Big turnover coming on CMS Board of Education as 2 incumbents swept out of office
One incumbent and four newcomers triumphed in Tuesday’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education races to make the third board shake-up in recent years.
Officially, six seats were up for grabs, but incumbent Gregory “Dee” Rankin ran unopposed in the contest for District 3, which covers northeast Charlotte. Two incumbents — Thelma Byers-Bailey in west Charlotte’s District 2 and Summer Nunn in south Mecklenburg’s District 6 — decided not to seek reelection.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board Chair Stephanie Sneed will keep her District 4 seat. Incumbent Lisa Cline was unseated by challenger Cynthia Stone in District 5. Meanwhile, both candidates who received a controversial endorsement from Raki McGregor, a Charlotte business leader and former advisor to CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill, won their races in districts 1 and 6.
The CMS board previously voted to approve a $500,000 contract for McGregor’s wife’s education consulting firm, but three members voted against it: Melissa Easley of District 1, Cline in District 5 and Nunn of District 6. McGregor later endorsed challengers in the District 1 and 6 races, though Nunn eventually announced she would not seek reelection. However, McGregor has said board members’ decisions on the contract did not influence his decision about which candidates to endorse.
In 2022, only one of six seats on the board went to an incumbent. In 2023, an incumbent maintained just one of three at-large seats. This time, two of six incumbents will keep their seats – Rankin and Sneed. At-large school board members were not on the ballot this year.
Hatch unseats Easley in District 1
In District 1, incumbent Melissa Easley garnered 25.6% of the vote, trailing challenger Charlitta Hatch, who carried 44.8%. The other challenger, Bill Fountain, had 29.1% of the vote.
Hatch, a political newcomer who works as chief data and analytics officer for the city of Charlotte, outraised her opponents and every other school board candidate in this year’s election.
Typically, school board races only raise a few thousand dollars – small sums compared with more high-profile, partisan contests. Hatch, however, eclipsed other candidates, raising a total of $56,000. That includes $11,500 between Sept. 24 and Oct. 20 alone.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board races are nonpartisan, meaning candidates do not run on a particular party ticket. But candidates’ political affiliations are easily viewable through North Carolina voter registration data, and both Mecklenburg County Democrats and the Mecklenburg County Republican Party endorsed candidates in this year’s school board contests.
While Fountain drew the Republican endorsement, Hatch carried the Democratic one, despite the fact that Easley is also a Democrat. Easley said she believes Hatch got the endorsement due to her high fundraising totals.
“The Democratic Party leadership chose not to support me in this race,” Easley said in a Facebook post Sept. 23. “Not because I am under-qualified or because I’ve done anything wrong, but because I won’t play a game, I didn’t raise the most money, and I refuse to stay quiet when I know something is wrong.”
Haynes defeats Hall in District 2
Shamaiye Haynes maintained a sizable lead over Juanrique Hall in District 2, which covers uptown and west Charlotte. Haynes received 74.5% of the vote, while Hall got 24.5%.
Byers-Bailey announced she would not seek reelection after 12 years on the board and endorsed Haynes to fill the seat.
Both Haynes and Hall have made unsuccessful bids for seats on the CMS school board before, with Haynes falling just short of an at-large seat in 2023.
Haynes is a founder of the Charlotte Community Think Tank and president of the Greater Enderly Park Neighborhood Association. She was appointed to CMS’ Community Capital & Bond Committee in 2019.
Hall is an alumnus of West Charlotte High School, where he now is a volunteer football coach, and works with the city’s Alternatives to Violence program. He previously ran for the District 2 seat in 2022.
Haynes is a registered Democrat and Hall, a Republican. And, something about this election stood out to Shamaiye Haynes as she took the stage at Meck Dems’ watch party Tuesday night at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille.
“Although I always feel like I have something to prove, it’s become really clear to me that I am going to spank a MAGA’s tail tonight,” she said before results started rolling in, drawing applause from the crowd. Her comment is a likely reference to the fact that Hall was endorsed by activist group Moms for Liberty.
Sneed will keep District 4 seat
Current CMS Board Chair Stephanie Sneed won the race to represent east Charlotte, with 62.7% of the vote.
Two challengers, Jillian King and Robert L. Edwards, also ran for the seat and received 17.6% and 18.6% of the vote, respectively.
Sneed is an attorney. King is a former educator and stay-at-home mom, and Edwards currently works in CMS as an Exceptional Children educator.
Stone upsets Cline in District 5
District 5 incumbent Lisa Cline lost her south Charlotte district in a contest with challenger Cynthia Stone.
With only one precinct outstanding at 11:02 p.m., Cline had 42.5% of the vote and Stone had 56.8%.
Both Cline and Stone are retired former CMS educators.
Cline has served one term on the board after winning her seat in 2022 when incumbent Margaret Marshall decided not to run again. Cline was one of five newcomers to take office after the 2022 election, when three incumbents were swept out of office.
While the CMS board is officially nonpartisan, Cline is the lone registered Republican. And she lost on a night when Republicans elsewhere across the ballot underperformed expectations.
London wins in District 6
Anna London maintained a comfortable lead over Toni Emehel and Justin Shealy in the race to fill the District 6 seat, representing the southernmost part of Mecklenburg County.
London garnered 49.9% of the vote, while Emehel and Shealy got 23.1% and 26.2%, respectively.
London currently works as president and CEO of Charlotte Works, Mecklenburg County’s workforce development board. Emehel is a personal and professional development coach, and Shealy is an attorney.
Nunn announced in July she would not be seeking reelection. She said she needed to focus on her professional and family responsibilities.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 8:55 PM.
