Joi Mayo knocks off incumbent Tiawana Brown in City Council District 3 primary
Joi Mayo defeated incumbent Tiawana Brown Tuesday night in the Democratic primary for west Charlotte’s District 3 seat on City Council.
With all 20 precincts reporting, unofficial results show Mayo with a commanding lead over Brown by a margin of 49.5% to 25.1%. Former Councilman Warren Turner trails with 22%.
“This race has been hard at times,” Mayo said during a victory speech at her campaign event Tuesday night. “We really just had to think, what kind of race do we want to run? We want to run a race that’s focused on people, the people of District 3, not foolishness.”
Mayo received a number of key endorsements heading into Election Day. The Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police, LGBTQ+ Democrats of Mecklenburg County and The Charlotte Observer editorial board all favored Mayo over the incumbent. Mayo is a community activist and leader of a nonprofit in the Nations Ford area.
Brown is serving her first term on council and has branded herself as the “people’s champ,” saying she rises above cliques and internal drama in government to represent the voices of her constituents.
But Brown became entangled in a controversy of her own this spring when she was indicted alongside her two adult daughters on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud used to falsely obtain pandemic relief loans. Federal prosecutors allege Brown used the money to purchase items from luxury brand Louis Vuitton and to throw herself an extravagant birthday party.
The charges are a political attack “and a deliberate effort to interfere with her re-election,” Brown said in a statement shortly after the indictments.
Brown did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday night.
Of the seven City Council districts in Charlotte, District 3 has the most crowded pool of candidates. Brown’s challengers said they aren’t running because of her legal situation, though, and have avoided making it a campaign issue.
Turner also faced a scandal hanging over his campaign. He represented west Charlotte on council for eight years before sexual harassment allegations derailed his 2011 re-election campaign. An outside investigation determined he had made inappropriate comments to a city employee.
He ran again in 2023 to reclaim his former seat, which was open, but failed to gain much traction. That same year Brown received about twice as many votes as Turner.
A fourth candidate, Montravias King, suspended his campaign in August and threw his support behind Brown. His name remained on the ballot, though, and he still received about 3.4% of the vote in early returns.
The primary winner will go on to face Republican James Bowers in the November general election. Bowers lost to Brown in a landslide in 2023, picking up less than a quarter of the vote in the heavily Democratic district.
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 8:34 PM.
