WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source
Mayor Lyles makes an abrupt departure - but leaves a strong legacy
By Steve Harrison
May 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM EDT
A little more than a year ago, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles attended the Sarah Stevenson breakfast forum to celebrate her and the city’s other Black mayors. Harvey Gantt and Patrick Cannon were also there. Anthony Foxx spoke by phone.
At one point, Lyles recounted how she won the mayor’s job in 2017. She talked about the Democratic primary, where she defeated incumbent Jennifer Roberts. She paused in telling the story, not saying Roberts’ name. She asked: “What was her name again?”
The crowd laughed. They loved it.
Someone reminded Lyles she beat Jennifer Roberts. The mayor smiled, moved on and finished her story.
I wondered to myself: Had Lyles made a well-timed dig at an old political opponent to bring down the house? Or was it a genuine senior moment?
After all that’s happened since then, it was pretty clear it was the latter — and the type of slip that would become more frequent.
Lyles, who is 73, stopped presiding over monthly zoning meetings at the end of 2024, which is one of her responsibilities. She made more mental slip-ups. Council members, neighborhood leaders and business leaders noticed that she seemed less engaged and focused.
WFAE asked her about that Monday — and whether she would finish her term. She gave a non-answer (“We will see”) and was then escorted away by her assistant and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer. The mayor announced three days later, she will resign June 30.
This newsletter will look at her legacy — the good and bad.
It will not rehash the controversies that will be forgotten (such as police Chief Johnny Jennings’ settlement), but the decisions that will live on for decades.
First of all, under Lyles’ tenure, Charlotte continued its decades-long run of strong population growth and economic growth. The beat goes on.
Transportation plan and sales tax increase.
The mayor’s biggest legacy will be the multi-billion-dollar transportation plan and sales tax increase approved by voters in November. It took Lyles five years to get Republican lawmakers on board. It took a hard campaign to convince Mecklenburg County voters to approve it.
It was her baby.
The plan is to massively expand bus service, build the Red Line commuter train to Lake Norman, the Silver Line light rail, a Blue Line extension to Pineville and two streetcar extensions.
I doubt there will be enough money for the Silver Line, and some of the other rail projects may not be built either. The Silver Line will probably become a future mayor’s legacy in 25 years if a third transit tax is approved.
But the Red Line to Lake Norman will carry passengers in five or six years. Lyles will be remembered for that train, just as Pat McCrory is remembered for the Lynx Blue Line and Foxx for the streetcar.
Keeping the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.
Mayors are not remembered for keeping teams, only for losing them.
The city’s $650 million package for the Panthers was controversial, and one national group called it the “Worst Economic Deal of the Year.” But there was no real alternative. Lyles did not want to be the mayor who let the Panthers leave, perhaps to the suburbs or to another city.
Affordable housing.
Lyles’ other passion was affordable housing. Before she became mayor, the city’s typical housing bond was $15 million. Lyles quickly tripled that in 2018 to $50 million.
Under her leadership, the bond was increased to $100 million in 2024. The proposed budget includes a $125 million bond.
It’s unlikely a future mayor would reduce that amount.
(1193x800, AR: 1.49125)
On the other side of the ledger, Lyles’ tenure coincided with the deterioration of uptown Charlotte.
Some of that was not anyone’s fault.
Center city’s problems started with the Keith Lamont Scott protests that turned into riots in 2016, before Lyles became mayor. COVID-19 and work-from-home emptied uptown office buildings, and downtowns in other cities nationwide also struggled.
But from roughly 2021 through 2025, the mayor and much of the City Council didn’t seem focused on the lack of public safety uptown, even as high-profile shootings and disorder in major gathering places like Romare Bearden Park grabbed headlines. The mayor also didn’t seem enthusiastic about cracking down on so-called quality of life issues that have made the center city a worse place to live, like public defecation and urination.
Her statement after the August 2025 killing of Iryna Zarutska was seen as tone-deaf and focused more on concern for the alleged killer than the victim.
A string of uptown homicides in 2025 led CMPD to create a new uptown task force. The city’s proposed budget for the upcoming year includes a 10% pay increase for police officers.
But uptown in 2026 is unmistakably a worse place than it was in 2017. And there are more homicides citywide today than before Lyles became mayor, even adjusting for population growth.
Mayor’s race heats up early
The City Council must now vote on an interim mayor — one who will get nearly a full term.
But that’s likely to be a caretaker role. Lyles’ pending departure has renewed interest in the 2027 mayor’s race. There have been several stories looking at potential candidates, such as here and here.
In ranking the strongest candidates, the key factor is not so much their strengths and weaknesses and how much money they have raised. In a low-turnout, off-year primary, the demographics and gender of who else runs could decide the winner.
The electorate in the Sept. 2027 Democratic primary will probably be about half Black, half non-Black.
A two-person race between, say, Malcolm Graham, who is Black, and Dimple Ajmera, who is Indian-American, would probably be a toss-up.
A five-person race with four Black candidates (Graham, James Mitchell, Dante Anderson and Victoria Watlington) would almost certainly favor Ajmera.
A six-person race with four Black candidates, Ajmera, and Mecklenburg Commissioner Leigh Altman — who is white — would probably favor Altman.
So the biggest factor for 2027 will be watching candidates play a wait-and-see game. In short, the number of Black candidates who run will determine whether other candidates come off the sideline.
A harsh reality, but that’s electoral politics.
At one point, Lyles recounted how she won the mayor’s job in 2017. She talked about the Democratic primary, where she defeated incumbent Jennifer Roberts. She paused in telling the story, not saying Roberts’ name. She asked: “What was her name again?”
The crowd laughed. They loved it.
Someone reminded Lyles she beat Jennifer Roberts. The mayor smiled, moved on and finished her story.
I wondered to myself: Had Lyles made a well-timed dig at an old political opponent to bring down the house? Or was it a genuine senior moment?
After all that’s happened since then, it was pretty clear it was the latter — and the type of slip that would become more frequent.
Lyles, who is 73, stopped presiding over monthly zoning meetings at the end of 2024, which is one of her responsibilities. She made more mental slip-ups. Council members, neighborhood leaders and business leaders noticed that she seemed less engaged and focused.
WFAE asked her about that Monday — and whether she would finish her term. She gave a non-answer (“We will see”) and was then escorted away by her assistant and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer. The mayor announced three days later, she will resign June 30.
This newsletter will look at her legacy — the good and bad.
It will not rehash the controversies that will be forgotten (such as police Chief Johnny Jennings’ settlement), but the decisions that will live on for decades.
First of all, under Lyles’ tenure, Charlotte continued its decades-long run of strong population growth and economic growth. The beat goes on.
Transportation plan and sales tax increase.
The mayor’s biggest legacy will be the multi-billion-dollar transportation plan and sales tax increase approved by voters in November. It took Lyles five years to get Republican lawmakers on board. It took a hard campaign to convince Mecklenburg County voters to approve it.
It was her baby.
The plan is to massively expand bus service, build the Red Line commuter train to Lake Norman, the Silver Line light rail, a Blue Line extension to Pineville and two streetcar extensions.
I doubt there will be enough money for the Silver Line, and some of the other rail projects may not be built either. The Silver Line will probably become a future mayor’s legacy in 25 years if a third transit tax is approved.
But the Red Line to Lake Norman will carry passengers in five or six years. Lyles will be remembered for that train, just as Pat McCrory is remembered for the Lynx Blue Line and Foxx for the streetcar.
Keeping the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.
Mayors are not remembered for keeping teams, only for losing them.
The city’s $650 million package for the Panthers was controversial, and one national group called it the “Worst Economic Deal of the Year.” But there was no real alternative. Lyles did not want to be the mayor who let the Panthers leave, perhaps to the suburbs or to another city.
Affordable housing.
Lyles’ other passion was affordable housing. Before she became mayor, the city’s typical housing bond was $15 million. Lyles quickly tripled that in 2018 to $50 million.
Under her leadership, the bond was increased to $100 million in 2024. The proposed budget includes a $125 million bond.
It’s unlikely a future mayor would reduce that amount.
(1193x800, AR: 1.49125)
On the other side of the ledger, Lyles’ tenure coincided with the deterioration of uptown Charlotte.
Some of that was not anyone’s fault.
Center city’s problems started with the Keith Lamont Scott protests that turned into riots in 2016, before Lyles became mayor. COVID-19 and work-from-home emptied uptown office buildings, and downtowns in other cities nationwide also struggled.
But from roughly 2021 through 2025, the mayor and much of the City Council didn’t seem focused on the lack of public safety uptown, even as high-profile shootings and disorder in major gathering places like Romare Bearden Park grabbed headlines. The mayor also didn’t seem enthusiastic about cracking down on so-called quality of life issues that have made the center city a worse place to live, like public defecation and urination.
Her statement after the August 2025 killing of Iryna Zarutska was seen as tone-deaf and focused more on concern for the alleged killer than the victim.
A string of uptown homicides in 2025 led CMPD to create a new uptown task force. The city’s proposed budget for the upcoming year includes a 10% pay increase for police officers.
But uptown in 2026 is unmistakably a worse place than it was in 2017. And there are more homicides citywide today than before Lyles became mayor, even adjusting for population growth.
Mayor’s race heats up early
The City Council must now vote on an interim mayor — one who will get nearly a full term.
But that’s likely to be a caretaker role. Lyles’ pending departure has renewed interest in the 2027 mayor’s race. There have been several stories looking at potential candidates, such as here and here.
In ranking the strongest candidates, the key factor is not so much their strengths and weaknesses and how much money they have raised. In a low-turnout, off-year primary, the demographics and gender of who else runs could decide the winner.
The electorate in the Sept. 2027 Democratic primary will probably be about half Black, half non-Black.
A two-person race between, say, Malcolm Graham, who is Black, and Dimple Ajmera, who is Indian-American, would probably be a toss-up.
A five-person race with four Black candidates (Graham, James Mitchell, Dante Anderson and Victoria Watlington) would almost certainly favor Ajmera.
A six-person race with four Black candidates, Ajmera, and Mecklenburg Commissioner Leigh Altman — who is white — would probably favor Altman.
So the biggest factor for 2027 will be watching candidates play a wait-and-see game. In short, the number of Black candidates who run will determine whether other candidates come off the sideline.
A harsh reality, but that’s electoral politics.