‘You can’t beat proven,’ Sheriff McFadden says in victory speech
Speaking at an election night party at an uptown bar on Tuesday, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden invoked what he said a supporter told him recently: “You can’t beat proven.”
“You can talk about it, you can sing about it, you can mention about it — but if you’ve proven yourself, and if God has put the stamp on it, that’s it,” he said to a crowd.
Former Charlotte City Council member Tiawana Brown posted a live video of the sheriff’s comments on Facebook. Brown, who lost her own bid for reelection last year after being charged with federal fraud, was among a group cheering McFadden on as he spoke in the live video. (Brown has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.)
The sheriff alluded to how he has faced especially harsh criticism for the last year or so, saying he often prayed as “the attacks were coming so hard every day.” In a winding spiel, he said he was grateful for support from different parts of his coalition, including “the Latino community and the Nigerian community.”
High-ranking former staffers have called McFadden unprofessional and incompetent in public resignations. A state lawmaker accused the sheriff of threatening her in a phone call and filed a petition to remove him from office, which a judge put on hold. That petition sparked District Attorney Spencer Merriweather to request a criminal probe by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
The sheriff has also wrestled with an oft-unfriendly, Republican-led General Assembly. Supervision failures at the jail and deaths that followed those failures have led to a pile of lawsuits. While he reached a truce with Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently, McFadden spent much of 2025 arguing with its leaders via the news media.
Still, he eked out about 34% of the vote by the end of Tuesday, according to unofficial results. That bested Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Sgt. Ricky Robbins, who got about 31%. Former Chief Deputy Rodney Collins took about 27% of the vote, and former Detention Officer Antwain Nance got about 8%.
“You can’t beat proven,” echoed the sheriff’s campaign message. He said little about new policy initiatives, instead telling voters in debates that he had the experience for the job.
With no Republican running, McFadden’s win on Tuesday means he will be unopposed on a general election ballot later this year.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 4:23 PM.