Robert Harrington will become Charlotte’s next mayor after the City Council voted Monday to appoint him to the role, replacing Mayor Vi Lyles, who is resigning next week.
Council members had spent weeks lobbying one another over whom to choose. In the first round of voting Monday, no candidate received a majority. In a second round, a majority of council members coalesced around Harrington.
“There is a motion to appoint Robert Harrington by acclamation to the office of mayor upon vacancy of the office by Vi Lyles,” Lyles said after the vote concluded.
Harrington received six votes — from Ed Driggs, Malcolm Graham, LaWana Mayfield, Kimberly Owens, JD Mazuera Arias and James Mitchell, who had also been a candidate. Former Federal Reserve vice president Carrie Cook received five votes.
Mitchell and Mazuera Arias both changed their votes to Harrington after the first round, in which he received four votes.
Harrington, 63, has never held elected office, but has a long record in business and civic leadership. He is a partner at Robinson Bradshaw, where he represents clients in complex business disputes. A 2000 profile in Business North Carolina said he specialized in representing consumer finance companies against public interest consumer groups. Clients highlighted on his online profile are mostly large corporations and other businesses he defended from lawsuits.
Harrington holds a bachelor’s degree and a law degree, both from Duke University. He is the current president of the state Bar Association and has chaired local organizations, including the Mecklenburg County Library board.
“I think we had to offer what we had to offer, and that’s a record of leadership, a record of collaboration, a record of listening,” Harrington said after the vote. “I look forward to bringing those skills to bear.”
‘Charlotte Way’ focus
Harrington’s selection seems likely to continue the so-called “Charlotte Way,” emphasizing close cooperation between city government and the business community.
Some business leaders have been frustrated in recent months, including when the City Council voted in May to reject new Interstate 77 toll lanes.
In a recent interview with council members, Harrington said the city must balance the concerns of residents who oppose the toll lanes with pressure from state lawmakers, who have threatened to penalize Charlotte for rejecting the project.
“We have to be attentive to the public,” Harrington said. “Part of being attentive to the public is communicating fully and effectively with the citizens, but also with the state and the Department of Transportation.”
Airport negotiations ahead
City Council members have said they hope Harrington will bring more discipline and focus to council meetings, which have sometimes drifted off topic in recent months.
Another major issue facing Harrington will be ongoing negotiations with American Airlines and other carriers over a long-term lease at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Some council members, including Mazuera Arias, have pushed for the city to seek higher pay for contract workers at the airport, a move American Airlines opposes.
“Charlotte’s airport is one of the city’s most important economic engines,” Arias said during last week’s council interview with Harrington. He asked how Harrington would balance maintaining the city’s control of the airport while ensuring workers benefit from its success.
Harrington said workers should be treated with respect but emphasized the need to maintain strong relationships with state lawmakers, noting concerns that Raleigh could challenge Charlotte’s control of the airport.
“We have to continue to show that we are not good — but exceptional — stewards of that business,” Harrington said. “Because we are, as in any city like us, at risk with Raleigh.”
After the vote, Harrington was surrounded by reporters and assisted through the crowd by a governmental affairs representative for American Airlines.
