On a big night for Charlotte Democrats, Mayor Anthony Foxx coasted to a second term Tuesday, ensuring himself a high profile at next year's national convention while his party tightened its grip on city hall.

Foxx won 67 percent of the vote against Republican Scott Stone, the largest winning margin in a mayoral race since 1999.

And Democrats swept the city council's four at-large seats - ousting one Republican in the process. Their win leaves two Republicans on the 11-member council.

"It's an affirmation that we've led the city well through a pretty choppy time," Foxx said. "We've got a lot of challenges but we're working though them."

Demographic changes have made the city increasingly favorable to Democrats, which outnumber Republicans more than 2-1. The city has more unaffiliated voters than Republicans.

And despite Charlotte's lowest turnout in years - 16 percent - Democrats got out their supporters. A Foxx spokesman said their campaign made 200,000 phone calls. Stone's campaign made 20,000.

"Democrats demonstrated once again that we have committed volunteers and a turnout effort that far exceeds anything on the other side," national party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

Stone agreed.

"It really came down to turning out their vote," he said. "We didn't turn out ours."

Foxx, 40, is Charlotte's first Democratic mayor since Harvey Gantt. He avoided becoming the first incumbent to lose since Gantt lost to Republican Sue Myrick in 1987.

In a bumpy economy, he touted his efforts to create jobs, reduce crime and extend city help to libraries and school resource officers. His signature accomplishment was luring the Democratic National Convention. It will bring 35,000 visitors and a media spotlight that will fall not only on the city but its mayor.

Stone, 43, is an engineer making his second try for public office, his first in North Carolina. An aggressive and energetic campaigner, he called for reducing the size of government, even selling and leasing back assets such as the government center.

Some Republicans urged him to run for the council instead of mayor. Others, including a GOP council member, called his proposal to cut $72 million in spending unrealistic.

Stone tried to make the convention an issue. As late as Monday he complained that in a city with little organized labor, convention jobs would go to out-of-state union workers. The issue resonated even with some Foxx voters.

"It would trouble me greatly if a lot of jobs were being outsourced to out-of-state union employees," said Pat Kelly, a 52-year-old attorney and independent who voted for the mayor.

But Wasserman Schultz cast it as a losing issue.

"Republicans learned the hard way that rooting against the success of the convention for Charlotte - an event which will bring jobs and put Charlotte on the world stage - is a recipe for disaster with voters," she said.

Convention a boon

The convention gave Foxx a tangible boost.

Last month, he was front-and-center at a news conference announcing $7 million worth of convention contracts. And he got help from President Barack Obama's volunteer network, which spurred Democratic turnout.

Foxx has been on a record-setting fundraising pace, pulling in more than $770,000 through late October. He outraised Stone by more than 6-1.

In 2009, as he sought to replace seven-term incumbent Republican Pat McCrory, Foxx said mayors should be limited to four terms. "It benefits from having fresh ideas from time to time," he said Tuesday night. "My ideas are still fresh, by the way."

Tuesday's win, coupled with a successful convention, could crack open the door to higher office for Foxx. He could be the latest in an unbroken line of Charlotte mayors to run statewide.

Every mayor since 1979 - then-Democrat Eddie Knox, Gantt and Republicans Sue Myrick, Richard Vinroot and Pat McCrory - all ran for and lost statewide races. McCrory, who lost the governorship in 2008, plans to run in 2012.

"I'm not a believer in the 'Charlotte curse,' " said Carter Wrenn, a GOP consultant from Raleigh who was involved in races for one former mayor and against two others. "Maybe there's a little cultural dissonance between urban and rural that works against Charlotte ... (But) the state's getting more like Charlotte all the time."

Foxx said he's happy to stay put.

"I'm excited to be in a position to serve another two years," he said. "And I'm just going to work as hard as I can to make every day in this city a better day." Staff writer Doug Miller contributed.