The Charlotte City Council on Monday appointed attorney Robert Harrington to be the next mayor of Charlotte, replacing Vi Lyles, who is resigning on June 30.
Harrington has not held elected office before. But he has led the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library board and is the current president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He will finish Lyles' term and serve until December 2027. That gives him 17 months, or just under three-quarters of a full two-year term as Charlotte mayor.
Harrington was one of five finalists considered for the job, out of 114 people who applied.
Council members declined to elevate Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell, even though he has roughly a quarter-century experience in city government.
He only received two votes in the first round of voting. Former City Council member Harold Cogdell also received two votes.
Meanwhile, Harrington received four votes in the first round and former Federal Reserve official Carrie Cook received three votes.
Harrington and Cook then went into a run-off, which Harrington won with more than six votes. The clerk did not specify who voted for him or Cook, who ended up falling short of a majority.
Harrington, who is a partner at Robinson Bradshaw, said during a formal interview last week that he won’t run for mayor in the fall of 2027. He plans to remain at the law firm. The job of Charlotte mayor is technically a part-time position, with total compensation including benefits of about $80,000. The city manager is responsible for day-to-day operations and hiring and firing most employees.
Harrington told council members that he has experience running meetings from his past role leading the library board. He also said he has ties with the business community — a key point in Charlotte, historically a business-friendly city with a focus on growth and development.
As mayor, Harrington will have to lead a City Council that is struggling with a handful of key issues, including writing new rules for data centers after a 150-day building moratorium expires, the city’s long-term lease with airlines at Charlotte Douglas Airport, and the demands from contract workers for higher pay. A perennially chilly relationship with state powerbrokers in Raleigh, which Lyles won praise for helping to warm, is also an issue.
Perhaps the most important issue is what council members do about the Interstate 77 toll lanes project. City Council in May rescinded its support for the toll lanes, and then the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization did the same.
State Sen. Vickie Sawyer has proposed a draft amendment that would require Charlotte and other local governments to repay more than $60 million in design costs unless the toll lanes are approved again.
Harrington said during his interview last week that the city “needs to be attentive to the public” but declined to give an indication of whether or not he thinks the toll lanes should move forward.
He said that affordability was the city’s greatest challenge, followed by public safety.
And he pledged to run efficient meetings.
“There is a detailed procedure for this council,” he said. “I think we have to follow those, and it’s not because of the mechanics of following them, it’s to build trust.”
Harrington is the third mayor to be selected by council members in the last 13 years. Patsy Kinsey replaced Anthony Foxx in 2013 when he resigned as mayor to become the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary. And Dan Clodfelter replaced Patrick Cannon in 2014 after Cannon was arrested by the FBI on public corruption charges.
Harrington said Charlotte has been good to him and his family, and that serving as mayor is the "ultimate way to pay that forward.”
