My, how Charlotte has changed.

Not long ago, this city's halls of power were filled with people like Edwin Peacock III, the moderate Republican from Myers Park. Tuesday, the incumbent Peacock was swept off the City Council and out of office by little-known, poorly funded, first-time-candidate Democrats.

Peacock had served honorably, was well-regarded and had done nothing controversial that became an issue in the campaign. He was simply the victim of changing demographics.

There are twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans in the city of Charlotte, and even unaffiliated voters outnumber Republicans. On a map, the moderate-to-conservative southern wedge of the city can't match the rest of the pie. Democrats' 2-to-1 edge in registration was reflected almost exactly in the vote: Mayor Anthony Foxx beat Republican Scott Stone about 2-to-1.

It wasn't that Republicans didn't come out to vote. In fact, some of the highest voter turnout was in the Republican-leaning precincts of south Charlotte.

Among voters who didn't vote a straight ticket, Peacock beat everyone but Democrat Patrick Cannon and ran even with Democrat David Howard. But Democrats outnumbered Republicans among straight-ticket voters by more than 12,000, a gap no Republican could overcome.

Given what happened Tuesday, Republicans have to wonder whether they will ever hold a majority on Charlotte's City Council again.

Republicans should have seen this election as a chance to cut into the Democrats' 8-3 majority on the council, in light of voters' disgust with incumbents these days. Instead, they lost eight out of eight contested City Council seats, and Democrats will now control the council 9-2.

Charlotte would be better off with a more balanced City Council. Republicans need to huddle and figure out how to bounce back from an unmitigated drubbing - and whether that's even possible.