Three Democrats and a Republican were the apparent winners Tuesday in the race for Charlotte City Council's at-large seats.

Democrats Susan Burgess, Patrick Cannon and David Howard, along with Republican Edwin Peacock III, had comfortable leads, with votes counted from 168 of the city's 169 precincts.

Their victories, along with wins Tuesday by Republicans in two district races, will give Democrats an 8-to-3 edge over Republicans on council. Those Democrats will be working with a fellow Democrat as mayor, in Anthony Foxx.

Burgess, an incumbent and the mayor pro tem, led the ticket with 15 percent of the votes. Second, with 13.6 percent of the vote, was Cannon, seeking a return to council. Peacock, also an incumbent, was third with 12.9 percent. Running fourth was Howard, with 12.6 percent.

Howard had a lead of about 5,000 votes over the No. 5 finisher, Republican Tariq Scott Bokhari, who had 11.19 percent. Running sixth was Republican Matthew Ridenhour (11.18 percent), with Democrat Darrin Rankin (11.02 percent) seventh and Republican Jaye Rao (10.7 percent) eighth. Trailing, with 1.7 percent of the votes, was Libertarian Travis Wheat.

Republicans Andy Dulin and Warren Cooksey won the two contested council district races.

In five of the city’s seven council districts, Democrats had no opposition.

AT-LARGE

A Public Policy Polling poll released late last week showed Burgess, Peacock and Cannon in the lead. Each was the first choice of 17 percent of the voters, according to the poll, which had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. Fourth was Bokhari. Trailing in the poll Ridenhour, Rao, Howard, Rankin and Wheat.

Peacock and Burgess raised the most money in weeks leading up to the campaign, with each tabulating $60,000 or more. Bokhari and Howard each had raised about $40,000, according to figures filed with the board of elections.

Burgess, 63, is running for a fifth term, a string interrupted by an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2001 against McCrory. She led the ticket in 2007, and she served seven years in the 1990s as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board member.

Cannon, 42, was elected to council at age 26, becoming the youngest Charlotte City Council member ever. He served six terms, but he left office after 12 years in 2005, announcing he was running for mayor. He later withdrew from that race. His campaign was built around his experience as an elected official.

Peacock, 39, is seeking his second term. He is the son of a former county commissioner and Charlotte City Council member. Peacock campaigned in a number of forums, using print ads but also taking advantage of Facebook and Twitter.

Howard, 39, is former chairman of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission and is vice president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership. He also has worked with transportation and environmental task forces in Charlotte and co-founded the group Mothers of Murder Offspring, after his godsister was killed.

Bokhari, 29, was the youngest candidate in the race. He campaigned as a fiscal conservative and said late last week that he was getting support from residents. “People are jumping on board with the message,” he said.

Ridenhour, 32, is a former Marine and Iraq war veteran who was making his first run for office. He is well-known to conservatives as an organizer of Charlotte’s Tea Party movement, but he said people who met him were impressed with his grasp of a wide range of issues. “When they speak with me, they say, ‘You know, this guy has a balanced approach to things and a solid message,’ “ he said last week.

Rao was for N.C. Secretary of State in 2004 and campaigned on the need to create jobs in Charlotte. “The economy has always been my passion and my focus,” said Rao, who, with her sister, ran a celebrity services firm that represented clients such as NBA players Elton Brand and Kendall Gill.

Rankin, 37, is a political newcomer and insurance company owner. He portrayed himself as a political outsider, the only Democratic candidate who opposes the $4.5 million streetcar study. “It’s kind of like the status quo and the new way of doing things,” he said. “My message is an outsider, a fresh perspective.”

Wheat ran for state Senate last year and faced an uphill battle this year as the Libertarian candidate.

DISTRICT 6

With results counted from all 34 precincts, incumbent Republican Andy Dulin had 72.6 percent of the votes, to 27.4 percent for Democrat Jane Childrey.

Childrey, 37, became the first Democrat to run for city council in this south Charlotte district in 12 years, and she offered a spirited challenge for Dulin, 50, seeking his third term.

“She’s running a strong race – she’s everywhere,” former council member Lynn Wheeler said of Children last week. “She’s running a strong, formidable campaign. But Andy has done a good job, and Jane is a Democrat in a Republican district.”

Dulin campaigned on his record of supporting projects such as the NASCAR Hall of Fame and the hiring of police Chief Rodney Monroe. He told voters he will focus on localized issues and that he is accessible, giving residents business cards with his cell phone number listed.

Childrey said she would oppose rezoning decisions that allow higher density, and she criticized Dulin for supporting a 2007 rezoning decision that allowed a 10-story condominium project near single-family homes on Fairview Road at Wintercrest Lane. That project has not been started yet.

DISTRICT 7

With results counted from all of the district's 21 precincts, Republican Warren Cooksey had a 72.6 percent to 27.2 percent margin over Marc Friedland in his bid for re-election.

This was a quiet race, pitting Cooksey, a banker, against Friedland, owner of Talley’s Green Grocery in Charlotte’s uptown area. District 7 is heavily Republican, so most analysts expected Cooksey to win handily.

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