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Anthony Foxx will be Charlotte's next mayor

http://66.225.205.104/LM20091104.mp3

Anthony Foxx will be Charlotte's first new mayor in fourteen years and the city's first Democratic mayor in 22 years. Foxx beat Republican John Lassiter by about 3,000 votes last night. WFAE's Lisa Miller has more: The night did not get off to an auspicious start at Foxx's party. The big screen at the front of the ballroom was playing an episode of The Biggest Loser and supporters were looking for voting tallies on BlackBerrys and reporters' computers. After two hours of a tight spread between the candidates, Foxx began to take a sizeable lead finally gaining 51 percent of votes. "It's been 22 years since we've had this moment, but we won tonight," said Foxx. Foxx stood beside the last Democratic Mayor, Harvey Gantt. He told the crowd the work of rebuilding the community starts very soon. "We will work together Democrat and Republican and unaffiliated, white and black and Hispanic and Asian, all across the city we're going to pull Charlotte together and that's the work ahead of us," Foxx continued. A few blocks away, John Lassiter conceded the race with his opponent on the line. "Someone's calling me. It's Anthony Foxx. I'll do this live. Anthony, I'm congratulating you live in front of the TV. I tried to reach you a few moments ago," said Lassiter. "Congratulations on a great campaign. I wish you the very best as our next mayor. And you can count on me in anyway I can serve this city. Good luck to you and my best to Samara and the children. And you enjoy this night." Mayor Pat McCrory watched Lassiter give that speech. He offered to help Lassiter with the campaign, but Lassiter turned him down. He said he had to be his own man. Former Mayor Harvey Gantt was a big supporter of Foxx's, but also took a backseat in his campaign. He says the time is right for new leadership. "It's a different country, it's a different city than it was 20-something-odd years ago," says Gantt. "And the City has gone through a period where it had a mayor for fourteen years that was popular and he didn't have very, very strong opponents nor was there good reason. But there is a good reason to elect a new mayor now. Charlotte has a lot of different issues." Foxx says the most pressing issue is repairing Charlotte's economy.