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Most Charlotte City Council races are sleepy affairs. That's especially true for the primaries, where most seats are actually decided but low single-digit turnout percentages are common.
But the Democratic primary for District 5 in east Charlotte has become one of the most contentious in years, as two-term incumbent Marjorie Molina tries to fend off newcomer J.D. Mazuera Arias.
It features not only different vision from the two candidates, but also the involvement of the Service Employees Union International, which is spending heavily to defeat Molina.
Molina was first elected in 2022 and then reelected a year later.
She has touted her success in helping the city reach a development agreement for Eastland Yards, a mixed-use project at the site of the old Eastland Mall. The project had languished for years. Molina is also part of a voting bloc that usually supports Mayor Vi Lyles.
“I’ve served our community extensively for the entirety of my time living here in Charlotte as not only an executive but a business owner,” she said during a recent WFAE forum co-hosted by the League of Women Voters. “I am absolutely a proven leader who has delivered for east Charlotte.”
Mazuera Arias has run, in part, on his biography. His family emigrated to the U.S. from Colombia when he was a baby, and he said he has lived in east Charlotte since 2001. This is his first time running for office.
As the challenger, he has gone on the offensive.
“I ran because I spoke with over 150 District 5 Charlotte residents,” he said at the forum. “Transparency was not there. Communication was not there. Closed-door deals were happening.”
The two differ on other issues, such as how the city handled a $305,000 settlement this year with Police Chief Johnny Jennings. Molina voted for it in closed session, while Mazuera Arias said it was handled poorly.
Molina supports the proposed sales tax increase to pay for a multibillion-dollar transportation plan that would fund more rail lines and roads. Voters will decide in November whether to approve the referendum. If they do, the sales tax will increase one percentage point in Mecklenburg County to 8.25%.
“I am going to check yes because transit and transportation are two different things,” she said. “Transit is how we move people. Transportation is everything else — that’s sidewalks, that’s bike lanes, that’s everything else that we need for our city.”
While some City Council members have said they are still undecided on the tax, Mazuera Arias has come out against it. One reason: The plan doesn’t bring the Silver Line light rail through District 5 as originally planned. He said Molina didn’t push the city to reconsider.
“There was an opportunity for our current representative to advocate more for the Silver Line to get into District 5, but there wasn’t any attempt to do so,” he said.
The Silver Line was originally planned to run from the airport to Matthews, through uptown and east Charlotte. But because there was less money for rail transit in the final plan — only 40% of the total revenue raised by the new sales tax can go to rail lines — the city and the Metropolitan Transit Commission decided to end the line at Bojangles Coliseum.
Plans for the line could have reached District 5 if the city had eliminated the Lynx Blue Line extension to Pineville or cut one or two segments of the Gold Line streetcar expansion.
The SEIU entered the race after Molina voted earlier this year against sending to a City Council committee a proposal to study ways to improve the working conditions of contract workers at Charlotte Douglas Airport. The council deadlocked 5-5, and Mayor Vi Lyles broke the tie, declining to send the issue to a committee.
The union has funded negative direct mail against Molina and said it has 35 paid canvassers knocking on doors for Mazuera Arias.
Molina has said the airport worker issue is difficult. The city can’t dictate to private companies how much they pay their employees. And Molina and others have said the Republican state legislature in Raleigh could intervene if the city moved to raise the workers’ pay.
Mazuera Arias and some council members have said they don’t have to choose the lowest bidder for airport contracts, giving them some flexibility.
Molina has fired back on social media, writing that the SEIU is defaming her and suggesting that the campaign against her is racist.
In 2023, barely more than 3,600 people voted in the District 5 primary, which Molina won with 53% of the total in a three-way contest.
The winner of the Democratic primary is guaranteed a seat on the City Council because there’s no Republican challenger in November.
WFAE staff member Julian Berger is Mazuera Arias’ partner. He is not involved in any coverage of the District 5 race or coverage of the Charlotte City Council.
