Did Patrick Cannon’s past alter Tuesday’s primary?

There were five other names on Charlotte’s Democratic mayoral ballot Tuesday, but as far as David Howard is concerned, there might as well have been a sixth – Patrick Cannon.

“I was running against six people, and the former mayor was one of them for sure,” Howard said Wednesday.

Cannon, elected mayor in 2013, resigned five months later in a corruption scandal that later sent him to federal prison for nearly four years.

For Howard and others, Cannon’s looming shadow hung over Tuesday’s Democratic primary, especially among African-American voters.

It was one way to explain an election that’s sending two white candidates into a runoff despite a Democratic electorate where nearly two of every three voters is black.

Former Mecklenburg commissioner Jennifer Roberts led the field and faces an Oct. 6 runoff with incumbent Mayor Dan Clodfelter. City Council members Howard and Michael Barnes, both African-American, finished third and fourth respectively.

Roberts and Clodfelter each did well among black voters.

Roberts won eight of the 20 precincts with the largest percentages of black voters, according to an Observer analysis. Howard won all but one of the rest.

“The main takeaway from yesterday is there is no such thing anymore as a monolithic black vote,” said Herb White, editor-in-chief of the Charlotte Post. “Those days are gone. … Everybody was on equal footing in wining black voters’ support.”

Patterns among black, white voters

To be sure, Roberts and Clodfelter worked hard to get support in the African-American community. But consider some results.

In Precinct 16, at west Charlotte’s East Stonewall AME Zion Church, nearly 95 percent of the voters are black. Roberts won the precinct with 36 percent of the vote. She and Clodfelter combined for 56 percent.

At Precinct 82, at Greenville Memorial AME Zion in northeast Charlotte, four out five voters are black. Roberts won more than 41 percent. She and Clodfelter together took 56 percent there, too.

Glenn Burkins, editor and publisher of Qcitymetro.com, a site oriented to the black community, wrote Wednesday that Charlotte has become a majority minority city.

“Roberts understands and exploits this demographic shift far better than most,” he wrote, “and by regularly making herself visible at key events in the black community, she has managed to build a high degree of name recognition, and perhaps even trust, among black voters.”

There’s a flip side.

While Roberts and Clodfelter did well with African-American voters, Howard and Barnes didn’t fare as well with white voters.

In the 62 precincts with the largest percentages of white voters, Roberts and Clodfelter combined for 80 percent of the vote, eclipsing both black candidates.

The ‘ghost’ of Cannon

On top of that, turnout in many white precincts was up over 2013. Turnout in some large black precincts was down. At West Charlotte High School’s Precinct 25, for example, it was off 21 percent.

“I clearly didn’t do a sufficient job of getting out the black vote,” said Barnes, Charlotte’s mayor pro tem. “I didn’t do a good job of getting people out who have historically supported me.”

Others point a finger at Cannon.

“We didn’t lose to Jennifer, and we didn’t lose to Clodfelter,” said Colette Forest, an African-American activist who worked for Howard. “What we lost to was African-Americans believing that an African-American male could lead this city (as) mayor after Patrick. And that stinks …

“We were fighting with the ghost of Patrick’s past.”

Howard is convinced she’s right.

“How did one lady put it, ‘Are you going to keep your hand out of the cookie jar?’” he said. “The African-American community’s very proud. So that same way we’re proud, we can be embarrassed when it goes wrong.” Steve Harrison contributed to this story.

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Did Patrick Cannon’s past alter Tuesday’s primary?."