Five names the City Council should consider for Charlotte’s next mayor | Opinion

Charlotte has always been an aspirational place.

It was never destined to become one of the South’s great cities. With no state capital, no port and no major river, Charlotte had to build its way into relevance. For generations, it did.

That confidence has been harder to find lately. As Mayor Vi Lyles slowly retreated from the job, the city lost some of its forward motion, too. Now, with her impending departure, City Council has a rare opportunity to help Charlotte regain its footing.

By law, the council must appoint a Democrat to replace her. But that still leaves room to choose the right kind of Democrat: steady, credible, practical and independent enough to see the city clearly.

For much of its modern history, Charlotte turned to business-minded civic leaders who treated public office less like a career ladder and more like a capstone. They had blind spots, but they also had something the city badly misses now: a sense of shared purpose.

The right interim mayor could recover a little of that spirit. Here are five solid, steady picks.

Julie Eiselt

Julie Eiselt would be the most natural choice.

She served on City Council and as mayor pro tem, so she knows City Hall without being part of the current council scrum. She also represents a kind of Democrat Charlotte used to produce more regularly: pragmatic, pro-business, serious about public safety and more interested in whether government works than whether every decision satisfies the activist left.

Eiselt would bring continuity without looking like an anointment. She would know the players and the pressure points, while bringing enough distance to see the city’s challenges from outside the current groupthink.

Pat Cotham

Pat Cotham would bring institutional memory, independence and heart.

A longtime public servant, Cotham was ousted from the Mecklenburg County Commission in the 2024 primary largely because of anger over her daughter, state Rep. Tricia Cotham, switching parties and giving Republicans a legislative supermajority. In the process, Mecklenburg lost the leadership of a true civic treasure.

Nobody works harder than Pat Cotham. Few people care more deeply about the county, its neighborhoods and the people who usually get ignored until election season.

Charlotte needs a mayor willing to say obvious things plainly. Cotham would do that.

Larken Egleston

Larken Egleston is younger, more political and closer to the current generation of Charlotte leadership. But he has real council experience and enough distance from the current dais to avoid turning the appointment into a council succession fight.

Egleston understands local politics, but he has also shown an ability to talk across political lines, which is not a small thing in Charlotte anymore.

The next mayor will need to deal with Raleigh, the business community, neighborhood leaders, police, activists and a council full of people already thinking about 2027. That requires credibility with people who are not already inclined to agree with you.

Egleston could bring that.

Frank Emory

Frank Emory may be the purest example of the civic-steward model.

He has had the kind of career Charlotte used to know how to honor, with a major legal career, leadership roles at Novant Health, service on the N.C. Board of Transportation and deep involvement in the city’s civic life.

Emory was also recently named vice chair of the new Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority, which will shape one of the most important civic projects in the region for the next generation. That is a meaningful role, but the mayorship might be a better and more useful capstone to his long career.

The new mayor will need transit credibility, business credibility and enough civic stature to speak for more than one faction. Emory checks those boxes.

Charlotte used to know how to ask people like that to serve. It can still remember how.

Erskine Bowles

Erskine Bowles is the throwback pick.

For years, Bowles was the kind of name that got floated for everything in North Carolina civic life: governor, senator, university leader, fixer of whatever institution needed credibility. He has faded from that role a bit, which is understandable. Time moves on, and so do political eras.

But this is exactly the kind of moment that makes his name worth remembering.

Bowles is a former White House chief of staff, former UNC System president and longtime Charlotte business and civic figure. He is a Democrat with credibility well beyond the activist left, and he would bring instant seriousness to the office.

Would he want the job? I have no idea. But that is part of the appeal. One of the best qualifications for this appointment is not needing it.

Charlotte does not need a mayor who treats the next 18 months as a launchpad. It needs someone who can sit in the chair, lower the temperature and hand the office back to voters in better shape.

There will be plenty of time for 2027 mayoral candidates to make their case. They can argue over crime, growth, transit, housing and the city’s future. Until then, the City Council should protect the office, steady the city and resist the temptation to turn an appointment into an advantage.

Pick a steward, not a candidate.

Contributing columnist Andrew Dunn is the publisher of the Longleaf Politics newsletter, which offers thoughtful analysis of North Carolina politics and policy from a conservative perspective. He can be reached at andrew@longleafpol.com.