The first big test for 2027 Charlotte mayoral hopefuls just arrived | Opinion
Charlotte’s next mayoral election is still more than a year away, but the first big test for 2027 mayoral candidates may have already arrived.
The Charlotte City Council unexpectedly voted Monday night to withdraw its support for the controversial Interstate 77 toll lane project. The multibillion-dollar project, which would add toll lanes to an 11-mile stretch of I-77 from uptown to the South Carolina border, has faced significant community backlash, particularly from Black communities who have already been harmed by past highway construction and fear more displacement.
Until Monday night, the council’s plan was to slow down the project in order to further evaluate alternatives and potential impacts. That resolution passed Monday with nearly unanimous support. But in a surprise turn, another resolution was introduced that would rescind council’s support of the project, a move that potentially could kill it. That ended up being a 6-5 vote.
Those votes included several from council members who are believed to be considering a mayoral run. The vote wasn’t planned, and city officials and staff seemed caught off guard. In the end, Malcolm Graham and Victoria Watlington, both potential candidates, voted in favor of rescinding approval of the project. Dimple Ajmera, Dante Anderson and James Mitchell, who are also believed to be considering a mayoral run, voted against it.
An important caveat: This doesn’t mean that any council members based their vote on political considerations or a future election. Some of the Black neighborhoods that could be impacted by the project fall in Graham’s district, for example. But the split vote could still have political consequences, as some believe the I-77 toll lanes issue could be a decisive one in the mayoral race. Most significantly, the influential Black Political Caucus opposes the project and has said the issue could affect their endorsements for the 2027 mayoral and city council elections.
It’s difficult to win a race in Charlotte without the BPC’s endorsement, especially in lower-turnout municipal elections. But it’s possible to win in Charlotte without winning the Black vote, so long as you make up for it elsewhere. Jennifer Roberts did just that back in 2015, though that was before the BPC reinvigorated itself. Ajmera, for example, may understand that the BPC is less likely to endorse her over a Black candidate, so she might prefer a more citywide approach focused on boosting turnout in places like south Charlotte and even east Charlotte, where JD Mazuera-Arias won despite the BPC’s endorsement of his opponent last fall.
Mayoral considerations aside, it’s important to note that this vote isn’t necessarily a question of who supports toll lanes and who doesn’t. It’s a question of whether the nuclear option is the best path forward right now. Most council members have expressed reservations about the project, even those who voted against rescission. They all were in favor of delaying the project, and some may have been open to rescission in the future if there wasn’t a way to move forward with the community’s support.
So the council members who opposed the motion on Monday may not be endorsing the idea of toll lanes on I-77. They might just think that pumping the brakes for the time being is wiser than firebombing the entire effort, which has been in progress since 2014. Officials from the N.C. Department of Transportation have warned that withdrawing support for the project entirely could damage the city’s relationship with the department, jeopardizing not only this project but also future ones. They’ve also said that the $600 million in public funding allocated for the toll lanes can’t simply be redirected to another project.
Perhaps worst of all, the project could continue even without council’s approval, and the city could lose its leverage to demand changes to the project or propose alternatives. Voting “no” might have been the more pragmatic approach, but it also may be politically risky.
As Charlotte continues to grow, congestion on I-77 will become an even bigger problem than it already is. A solution is critical, even if it doesn’t involve toll lanes. Some believe toll lanes are a necessary evil to finance a widening or expansion of I-77, which would be tremendously expensive and something NCDOT couldn’t afford on its own. There could be workarounds, but finding them could be more difficult if the city burned bridges by attempting to withdraw from the existing agreement or if NCDOT takes its funding elsewhere.
Ultimately, the most successful candidate in 2027 is likely to be the one who can successfully balance pragmatism with politics. It would be a serious misstep to proceed with changes to I-77 without the community’s support, but relationships with state officials and business leaders also need to be preserved, because the city can’t tackle these issues alone. It’s a difficult needle to thread, but it’s a very good first test for those who want to be the next elected mayor of Charlotte.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten is covering politics and the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
