Robert Harrington becomes Charlotte mayor today. He’ll face 4 challenges right away
Robert Harrington will become Charlotte’s 60th mayor on Wednesday, inheriting a host of hot-button issues alongside the city’s highest office.
The mayor cannot vote except in cases of a tie, but Harrington will set City Council agendas, facilitate meetings and play a key role in fostering community relationships. And the mayor can also veto most council actions with a seldom-used power that would require a supermajority of seven council votes to override.
Mayor Vi Lyles announced her surprise resignation in May as the city grappled with generation-defining decisions. From data centers to climbing pedestrian fatalities, these are the biggest challenges facing Harrington as he begins his 18-month tenure.
How he uses his mayoral powers could dramatically reshape the city.
Picking up the pieces of the I-77 project
Charlotte is facing the wrath of state lawmakers after the city pulled out of a funding agreement for the I-77 project, which was to be the largest state roads investment in the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s history. The project would have added toll lanes to an 11-mile stretch from uptown to the South Carolina border in an effort to ease congestion.
The project had been in the works since 2007 and was officially added to the region’s long-term plans in 2014. Then in 2024, local governments approved a public-private partnership to pay for the $3.2 billion project.
Plans changed once NCDOT released maps in the fall showing the impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, and Charlotte set the project’s fate into motion in May when the City Council voted to rescind its support. Other local governments on the Charlotte Regional Transportation Organization soon followed.
Lawmakers weren’t happy. The NCDOT spent around $64 million before the CRTPO pulled out. Charlotte and others voting to kill the plan could now be on the hook to repay that money unless they reverse course on their decision.
A draft of the state budget released Tuesday calls for local governments to divide the cost among themselves based on the value of their weighted CRTPO votes, putting Charlotte on the hook for tens of millions of dollars. The state would also withhold transportation funding until that money is paid back.
Charlotte would have 90 days from when the budget passes to change its position if it wants to avoid paying, which would revive the project.
As the new face of the city, Harrington will facilitate public discussions while Charlotte decides how to respond. And behind the scenes, he faces the tall task of repairing a fractured relationship with state leaders who disagree with the city’s direction.
The future of data centers
The City Council voted unanimously in June to pause new data center developments until at least November while city staff study the issue. The staff will make recommendations on how to approach future data center developments within the confines of state law.
The issue is far from settled.
Although the mayor does not have a vote in most cases, he is a tiebreaker. And council members have shown they have varying opinions on the issue, with some taking hardline stances against any centers in Charlotte and others saying residents’ data is better housed locally than offshore.
Business leaders and developers lobbied against the moratorium and urged council not to stand in the way of the burgeoning projects. Grassroots leaders and residents pressured council to do the opposite.
Lyles used her tiebreaking vote in April to avoid a public hearing on the issue after council was split on whether to take the first step toward a moratorium. Depending on how conversations continue and whether the council is divided over staff recommendations, Harrington might wade directly into the issue, too.
American Airlines lease agreement
Charlotte is an American Airlines hub, and the airline accounts for about 90% of flights out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The airline’s future in Charlotte — and by extension the future of the airport — will be determined during Harrington’s tenure.
The city-run airport announced a one-year extension of its Airline Use and Lease Agreement in May just before its 10-year agreement expired. That gives the parties more time to hammer out a long-term plan.
As negotiations have proceeded, however, airport workers pushed the city to demand better pay for airport workers.
The city cannot set wages for private companies. But the Service Employees International Union 32BJ, a union that has advocated for local airport workers, wants Charlotte to set standards during negotiations and award contracts to companies that promise to increase pay and improve working conditions.
The SEIU polled 560 registered voters in April and found about three quarters of respondents said they supported better wages for airport workers.
Harrington will have to strike a delicate balance between employees, airlines and state law. For her part, Lyles earned the ire of airport employees last year when she used her tie-breaking vote to block the city from studying ways to improve working conditions.
Reducing pedestrian and vehicle deaths
In 2018, Charlotte adopted Vision Zero, which committed to eliminating traffic fatalities by 2030. The city has a long way to go and little time to get there.
Traffic deaths and serious injuries both increased in 2025 despite millions of dollars in Vision Zero investments, according to a report from the Charlotte Department of Transportation earlier this year. They also increased in 2024.
Eighty-one people died on Charlotte roads in total last year, while 111 people suffered serious injuries. Multiple City Council members elevated those troubling numbers as a top issue this year and called serious crashes a “safety emergency.”
The council took one major step in June when it revived an almost 20-year-old red light camera program in hopes of curbing traffic injuries. The pilot program will install cameras in 10 high-traffic intersections for one year and issue $75 citations to red light runners.
Harrington will preside over the program’s anticipated implementation next year and help determine what other steps the city can take to get Vision Zero back on track as safety discussions continue.
Observer reporters Mary Ramsey and DJ Simmons contributed reporting.
