Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles will seek fifth term in 2025 reelection bid
Longtime Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles will seek a fifth term in office in 2025.
Days after candidate filing opened, Lyles officially announced her candidacy Thursday.
“Charlotte is a city of opportunity, and I’m proud of the progress we’ve made,” she said in a statement. “From expanding affordable housing to improving public safety and investing in our infrastructure, we are delivering real results. But there is still work to do—and I’m ready to keep doing it.”
She’ll officially file with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections on Wednesday, Lyles’ statement said.
Lyles was first elected mayor in 2017, ousting a Democratic incumbent, after four years on the Charlotte City Council. She cruised to a fourth term as mayor in November 2023, winning the general election with 73.6% of the vote after defeating a primary challenger with 85.4% of the vote.
She’s provided years of stability in the city’s top office after Charlotte saw six mayors between 2013 and 2017. But Lyles also weathered controversies.
In her time in office, she guided Charlotte through the COVID-19 pandemic and controversial decisions on a major overhaul of the city’s development ordinances, the 2020 Republican National Convention and a $650 million investment in Bank of America Stadium.
In recent months, she’s faced questions about transparency amid the costly exit of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings.
Democrat Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel is the only other candidate so far to file for mayor, and Lyles has easily fended off primary challenges in the past. Her decision to run for reelection is likely to keep the biggest-name challengers on the sidelines this year.
Will anyone primary Lyles?
Lyles hasn’t faced a serious primary fight since her first bid for mayor against incumbent Jennifer Roberts.
Insiders previously told the Observer many Democrats would likely sit out the mayoral race again if Lyles sought another term. Her retirement, however, would’ve triggered a flurry of candidates considering bids.
Potential candidates could’ve included longtime City Council members Dimple Ajmera, Malcolm Graham, Danté Anderson and Victoria Watlington.
Roberts took to social media Thursday to comment on Lyles’ decision and the lack of serious challengers in recent mayoral races.
“Just saw that Vi Lyles announced she will run for yet another term as mayor. Waited until filing was halfway through to announce,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Charlotteans should have choices. It’s a challenging time for our city and country. Maybe I should sign up to run again….”
Who is Vi Lyles?
Lyles tied Stan Brookshire and John Belk for the title of Charlotte’s second-longest-serving mayor with her reelection in 2023, second only to Pat McCrory.
She was first elected to the City Council in 2013 and ascended to mayor pro tem two years later.
In 2017, she dethroned the incumbent Roberts in a Democratic primary where Roberts was plagued by a showdown with the General Assembly over LGBT rights and questions about her handling of the Keith Lamont Scott protests. Lyles went on to defeat Republican Kenny Smith in the general election by a margin described by the Observer at the time as stunning.
Before running for office, she was a budget analyst, budget director and an assistant city manager in Charlotte.
Lyles is a South Carolina native and studied at Queens University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 2:59 PM.
