Braxton Winston will be Charlotte’s No. 2 elected official. What led to ‘unified’ vote?
Braxton Winston, first elected in 2017 after coming to prominence during protests over the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott, became Charlotte’s mayor pro tem Tuesday.
Winston was elected unanimously over Dimple Ajmera, the top at-large vote-getter in the July general election. Winston finished first among at-large candidates during the May primary. Often, the City Council nominates the top general election vote-getter as mayor pro tem, though that trend has been broken at least twice in recent history.
The mayor pro tem leads the council when the mayor is away, and is the No. 2 elected leader on the Charlotte City Council. Winston said he also sees the role’s responsibilities as building coalitions among council members and driving action.
New City Council sworn in
Winston’s selection came as a new City Council was sworn in, bringing in four new members: LaWana Slack-Mayfield, at-large; James “Smuggie” Mitchell, at-large; Dante Anderson, District 1; and Marjorie Molina, District 5.
Both Slack-Mayfield and Mitchell are returning to council.
Mitchell resigned in 2021 during a controversy about his co-ownership of a construction firm that does business with the city. It’s unclear how much of the company he still owns, but City Attorney Patrick Baker said in a memo that, if Mitchell owns more than 10%, he could face criminal charges.
Mitchell on Tuesday declined repeated questions by reporters about his ownership of the company, RJ Leeper. He said the issue was a “business matter” and referred all questions about the legality of his service to the city attorney.
Slack-Mayfield served for eight years as the District 3 council member.
Mitchell nominated Winston for mayor pro tem
Mitchell made the motion to nominate Winston as the mayor pro tem. After a second from Slack-Mayfield, Molina made a motion to nominate Ajmera.
Ajmera declined, saying there “is a time when we must decide whether to lead or help someone else lead in a unified voice.”
“Without our unity and collaboration this City Council cannot be at our best and strongest for the people of Charlotte,” she said. “We cannot govern with closed doors.”
Ajmera received support from some community activists in Charlotte, who pointed to her potential nomination as mayor pro tem as an important moment for immigrants. Ajmera is Indian-American, and her family immigrated to the U.S. when she was 16. Last week, she told The Charlotte Observer she expected to be picked as mayor pro tem.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, she said the decision to turn down the nomination was difficult. Ajmera said she made her decision over the past few days.
“My victory is a historic victory, and my work is not finished here,” she said. “I’m going to continue to serve whether I’m mayor pro tem or not.”
She said no one came to her and asked her to stand down in her mayor pro tem bid, but she wanted to see the new council unified on their first vote. With Winston, they voted as one.
Winston as city’s No. 2 leader
A photograph of Winston went viral in 2016, showing him shirtless with a raised fist standing in front of a line of police officers. The protests and riots erupted after Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police killed Scott when at Village at College Downs apartments to serve an outstanding warrant. Police said Scott was not the person they were serving with a warrant, but they approached him after believing he left his vehicle with a handgun.
When he first came into office in 2017, Winston said he wanted to help forge major changes for Charlotte in policing, transit, housing and more. Since then, he and other elected officials faced a deluge of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid growth of Charlotte and its housing market.
Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony, Winston said Ajmera has been an inspiration to him on council. He said the mayor pro tem position has transitioned from more ceremonial to a responsibility to organize council and build effective coalitions among diverging views.
Moving forward, he said, building a strong public transit program will be his biggest priority.
The new council will have just 15 months before the next council is sworn in. Ordinarily, members serve for two full years, but the pandemic delayed delivery of Census results and the most recent election from 2021 to 2022.
Priorities of the new council
Council members shared a variety of priorities heading into their new terms. Several mentioned the availability of affordable housing, public safety and figuring out a way to balance Charlotte’s growth with threats of gentrification and displacement.
Ed Driggs, the District 7 councilman from south Charlotte, said lowering violent crime will be one of his biggest priorities. Councilman Tariq Bokhari in District 6, Victoria Watlington in District 3 and Maclolm Graham in District 2 also mentioned public safety as a top priority.
Both Anderson and Molina pointed to increasing wages as a key priority.
“I hear affordable housing a lot, but affordable to what? What does it mean if you don’t have a living wage?” Molina said to reporters. “If we don’t talk about your wage, we can’t talk about what’s affordable.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2022 at 10:17 PM.
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