Polls opened Tuesday morning for this year’s municipal election in Mecklenburg County. There are elections for the city of Charlotte, as well as the school board and the six towns. But the biggest issue on the ballot is the one percentage point increase in the county’s sales tax to 8.25%, which would pay for a nearly $20 billion transportation plan.
WFAE reporter Steve Harrison joins Morning Edition host Marshall Terry to talk about what’s on the ballot.
TERRY: Steve, let’s start with the transportation tax referendum, which will be on everyone’s ballot in Mecklenburg County. Tell us again what’s at stake?
HARRISON: Marshall, like you said, the plan would raise the sales tax by one percentage point, with 40% of the money going to roads, bike lanes and sidewalks. Forty percent would be for rail transit, starting with the Red Line commuter train to Lake Norman. And 20% would be for buses and new microtransit.
The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is spearheading the campaign, and has spent at least $1.7 million on mailers, digital ads, TV ads and radio ads.
Here’s part of that ad, narrated by former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt.
GANTT: This campaign is not just about trains or roads or sidewalks. It’s about continuing a story we have been writing for decades. It’s about making sure the next generation can get to work, to school, to opportunity.
TERRY: So the Alliance is very well-funded. What does the opposition look like?
HARRISON: Not well-funded, but scrappy. The progressive group Action NC is leading the charge against the tax, saying the sales tax hurts low-income residents because it’s regressive. Action NC says it’s spent about $6,000.
Here’s a clip from an ad that was played on two Black radio stations:
AD: This is Corine Mack, president of the NAACP Charlotte. This thirty-year plan hurts marginalized communities. If we aren’t at the table, we are on the menu. I’m Colette Forest, former chair of the Black Political Caucus. As a Black woman, voter and taxpayer, this is not for us.
TERRY: And it looks like early voting is way up compared to the last municipal election in 2023. How many people have voted so far?
HARRISON: 64,651 people have voted early countywide. That compares to less than 41,000 two years ago.
The transportation referendum is probably driving a lot of people to go vote. But Marshall, there is probably another factor at play as well: This is a very Democratic county, and this is the first general election since President Trump won reelection.
We saw a similar surge in 2017 here in the first year of Trump’s first term. We don’t have any federal races on the ballot, but there could be a lot of voters who just want to get out there and have their voices heard.
TERRY: The city of Charlotte has elections. But most of the races have already been decided in the September primary. What are you looking for?
HARRISON: Mayor Vi Lyles is a heavy favorite to win her fifth term, which would make her the city’s second-longest serving mayor, after Pat McCrory.
Republican Edwin Peacock is trying to squeeze in and get one of the four at-large seats on City Council. And remember — Republicans have not held one of those citywide seats since 2011, when Peacock held that job.
And there is one really competitive race in south Charlotte’s District 6.
TERRY: That’s a rare swing district.
HARRISON: Exactly.
Republicans have always held this seat, but Democrats are getting closer. Republican Krista Bokhari, wife of former District 6 member Tariq Bokhari, is running. A big theme in her campaign has been keeping a Republican voice on the council, where there are currently only two Republicans.
Her opponent is Democrat Kimberly Owens, an attorney. She has put out negative campaign mailers and ads featuring menacing National Guardsmen, pointing out that Krista Bokhari supports President Trump’s efforts to send the guard into cities.
TERRY: And school board has arguably seen some of the most contentious races this year.
HARRISON: That’s right. Six of the nine school board seats are up for grabs this year.
Two seats are wide open because the incumbents — Thelma Byers-Bailey and Summer Nunn — aren’t running for reelection.
The District 6 race, in particular, for Nunn’s south Charlotte seat, has gotten really heated.
Three candidates are running: CMS parent and volunteer Toni Emehel, Charlotte Works CEO Anna London and family attorney Justin Shealy. Emehel has accused London of a conflict of interest because of her ties to a controversial educational consulting firm, though London has dismissed those accusations as “distractions” and “false narratives.”
And in District 1, incumbent Melissa Easley, a Democrat, is facing a steep challenge from Charlitta Hatch, a city employee, who’s raised a ton of money and nabbed both the local Democratic and teachers’ union endorsements. There’s also a Republican-backed candidate in that race, Bill Fountain.
TERRY: And finally, we have the town races.
HARRISON: That’s right. Pineville, Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson are all electing mayors and council members.
These races are officially nonpartisan, but Republicans are trying to claw back and win seats in Huntersville after being swept out of office two years ago. And in Cornelius, there’s a rematch for mayor, two years after Woody Washman edged out Dennis Bilodeau by just 5 votes.
