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The left has been rejuvenated in the first six months of the Trump administration, defying predictions that the Democratic Party would counter the MAGA movement by scrambling to the center. That’s best seen in the surprising New York City primary victory by Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani in the race for mayor.
In Charlotte, the Service Employees Union International is hoping to ride that progressive wave in the city’s September primaries.
The SEIU wants to improve the working conditions and pay of roughly 600 contract workers at Charlotte Douglas Airport. These aren’t pilots or flight attendants, but workers who do jobs like clean airplanes, push passengers in wheelchairs and clean bathrooms.
The union has been pushing the Charlotte City Council to consider an ordinance that would establish “minimum standards for wages, benefits, and training for airport workers employed by airline contractors and permitted businesses.”
Last month, council members deadlocked 5-5 on whether to send the issue to a committee for further study — and possible action.
Republicans Edwin Peacock and Ed Driggs, and Democrats Marjorie Molina, Dante Anderson and Malcolm Graham voted no. They said state law prohibits them from mandating what private companies pay their employers. They also warned that Republican legislators could retaliate against the city, possibly even removing the airport from city control.
Democrats Tiawana Brown, Renee Johnson, Victoria Watlington, Lawana Mayfield and Dimple Ajmera voted to explore legal ways to help the contract workers. They acknowledged that state law is a roadblock, but Johnson noted that council members don't have to pick the lowest bidder.
With James Mitchell absent (Often an ally of the mayor, he would have likely voted against SEIU), Mayor Vi Lyles had to break a tie.
She killed the effort.
Now with the primary in less than two months, the SEIU thinks it’s knocking at the door. If it can hold its five and flip one seat, the union can push the issue forward.
“Let’s have the public debate this,” said Chris Baumann, the union’s southern regional director. “We want officials who will give democracy a chance to work.”
He said the SEIU spent more than $100,000 in the last Charlotte election, winning some races (Johnson) and losing others (Stephanie Hand.) The union, he said, will spend significantly more in Charlotte this fall.
As a “right-to-work” state with a fraught history of labor relations, North Carolina might not seem like the most fertile ground for a union to till. But Baumann said Mamdani’s election shows that “voters want elected leaders who care about working people.”
Where the union money will go
The SEIU said it will interview candidates before making endorsements.
But after looking at the playing field, it’s obvious where the union will spend a good chunk of its money. The SEIU will try to protect its five, including Johnson. She faces a rematch with Wil Russel, who was backed by Lyles last time. Brown, who is under federal indictment, will also need help. (Three people were wearing SEIU t-shirts at the Mecklenburg Board of Elections when she officially filed to run for reelection.)
As for flipping a seat?
Graham has no Democratic or Republican challenger, though Lia White said she would try and get on the ballot as an independent. Driggs doesn’t have a challenger. Anderson is running against perennial candidate Charlene Henderson.
That leaves the open seat in south Charlotte’s District 6 and District 5 in east Charlotte. There, incumbent Marjorie Molina is running against J.D. Mazuera Arias, who was once a legislative fellow for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Arias said he would have voted to send the airport worker issue to committee.
In explaining her no vote, Molina said the city cares about its lowest-paid employees, having increased their pay from $23 to $24 an hour. She said she was worried about blowback from Raleigh Republicans if the City Council intervened.
SEIU isn’t the most important endorsement
While the union is hoping to make the election a referendum on worker’s rights, they face long odds.
In Charlotte municipal races, the most important endorsement isn’t from the SEIU. It’s from the Black Political Caucus.
BPC-backed candidates don’t always win, but the group does have a high batting percentage. Molina, who is Black, was endorsed by the BPC in 2022 and in 2023. Black voters (42%) make up a plurality in the east Charlotte district.
After the BPC, city races are decided on small-ball issues, like rezonings, or on simple name recognition and incumbency.
But the airport worker is simmering in other ways.
Influential developer Johnny Harris has said the City Council is being driven by “performative activism.”
The Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition has called the SEIU’s efforts as a “risk to airport governance” and “poor stewardship of the economic engine of the CLT hub.” It has questioned whether SEIU is even the legal representative for the workers.
(The union said it was recognized as the legal representative for 500 cabin cleaners and trash truck drivers when they worked for the contractor Jetstream. It said Jetstream refused to recognize the union, and that American Airlines then switched to a different contractor, ABM, which also refused recognition. SEIU said it has filed an unfair labor practice against ABM.)
In response, the Housing Justice Coalition, a group led by local activist Ismaail Qaiyim, said that, “If this is ‘The Charlotte Way’ that Mr. Harris and REBIC wants….then we say it’s time to ‘ground that flight.’”
The coalition released a video mocking Lyles for giving tourism tax dollars to David Tepper while voting against the airport contract worker motion.
Campaign filing ends
Republican Edwin Peacock is running for City Council at-large. He once held that job but lost his reelection bid in 2011 in a local “Blue Wave” created by former Mayor Anthony Fox’s reelection. He was recently appointed to finish out this term in the vacant City Council District 6 seat,
Peacock also ran for mayor and lost in 2013 and 2015. Since then, the path for the GOP has only gotten harder. Republicans make up just 19% of the city’s registered voters.
Speaking of mayors, Jennifer Roberts will not challenge Vi Lyles in the Democratic mayoral primary.
Roberts had said she was thinking about running to give voters an option. She was upset about the mayor’s tie-breaking vote to kill the airport worker discussion.
But the former mayor, who served from 2015 to 2017, said she has too many commitments to run now.
When asked this week about Roberts criticizing her for waiting until halfway through filing to announce she would seek a fifth term, Lyles dismissed Roberts. She said her statement was cute.
“I’m not sure whether I laughed out loud on that one or not,” Lyles said. “Jennifer and I served together several years ago. I have not had a chance to see her, and I thought it was a cute little game. You have to find some joy in this work at some point.”
New Mecklenburg manager replaces HHS head with Florida leader
New Mecklenburg County Manager Michael Bryant is making changes to his top leadership team.
Bryant has pushed out Deputy County Manager Anthony Trotman, who worked for the county for 10 years and was in charge of Health and Human Services. Trotman was reportedly escorted out of his office earlier this month, according to someone with knowledge of what happened.
He was one of three deputies under former manager Dena Diorio, who retired at the end of June.
Trotman is being replaced by Kimm Campbell. She’s coming to Mecklenburg from Broward County, north of Miami.
