CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, who is serving a fifth term and was sworn in a few months ago, announced Thursday that she is resigning from office effective June 30. The announcement was mostly unexpected.
According to a release from her chief communications officer, Lyles, who was first elected mayor in 2017, cited a desire to spend more time with her grandchildren and allow for new leadership.
“I am very proud of my record as mayor, but I also firmly believe that true leadership includes knowing when it is time to let the next generation of leaders take over,” she stated.
She said her decision to step down early is intended to give voters more time to consider candidates for the upcoming election.
“Our city is strong, our trajectory is positive, and now is the right moment for someone else to build on our progress from the past few years,” Lyles said in the release.
Lyles has spent more than 30 years in Charlotte city government, holding several local positions, including assistant city manager and councilmember, before becoming the first Black woman to serve as the city’s mayor.
Lyles worked under the guidance of some of the most influential mayors the city of Charlotte has seen, including Harvey B. Gantt, who was Charlotte’s first Black mayor, Sue Myrick, who was the city’s first female mayor, and Pat McCrory, the Queen City’s longest-serving mayor.
Lyle’s journey into politics
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Lyles’ commitment to change started long before her journey into politics.
Lyles, born Viola Taylor, grew up in a South Carolina plagued by segregation and harsh Jim Crow laws.
She was one of the first Black students to attend Queens University Charlotte, earning her bachelor’s degree in political science and then a master’s degree in public administration.
She was elected to office in 2013 when she joined Charlotte City Council as an at-large representative.
In 2015, council chose her to serve as mayor pro tem and as the city’s representative on the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
It was there that she cast the deciding vote to move forward with the Interstate 77 toll lane project.
“We see this project as one of the first opportunities to actually move very quickly toward addressing a real issue,” said Lyles when she was on the CRTPO board.
She didn’t shy away from challenges. After the Keith Scott protests in 2016, it was Lyles who put forward the plan on how the city should move forward, including a promise to build 5,000 affordable housing units in three years.
“Trust takes a little bit more time, but the commitment to trust needs to be built now,” she said then.
A year later, the community placed its trust in Lyles when she challenged the incumbent Mayor Jennifer Roberts.
Lyles won the primary and general elections and immediately got to work.
“My personal commitment is we look at every action through the lens of, ‘Does it build trust in our community, and does it increase confidence in the work we are doing?’” Lyles said as mayor
It was immediately clear that Lyles would make affordable housing a priority.
She made the bold ask: $50 million from Charlotte voters and $100 million from the private sector. Both answered the call, which set up Charlotte to not only hit the mayor’s goal of providing 5,000 units in three years, but also eventually led to tens of thousands of units.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the idea that everyone should have the opportunity to have a safe place to stay.
The controversies
Her first term as mayor was not without controversy.
“I’m really pleased and proud to announce that we’re preparing a bid for the Republican National Convention that will be held in 2020,” she had said.
Lyles courted and defended the city’s bid for the 2020 Republican National Convention. Charlotte’s bid came at a time when many people in Lyles’ Democratic Party were fiercely opposed to President Donald Trump.
She made the case for the event directly to the Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County, only for the group to turn and reject her.
However, she swayed the people with the ultimate say — Charlotte City Council in a 6-5 vote. Leaders greenlit the convention.
The mayor and her colleagues then traveled to Austin to celebrate with the RNC. But the celebration was short-lived.
The grand party for the Grand Ole Party turned into a whimper, which was derailed by COVID-19. Charlotte’s RNC experience lasted one day.
The Queen City had bigger challenges in 2020: COVID-19 and racial unrest.
Lyles worked with the health director to issue mask mandates and restrictions while Mecklenburg County had primary responsibility for managing the virus.
She put in place task forces to help ensure millions of dollars in funding were distributed to businesses and community groups for recovery.
Protestors took to the streets as she took on COVID-19.
The mayor, who at times joined the protestors, walked a fine line, declaring a state of emergency.
She also asked for transparency and accountability following a kettling incident in Uptown that remains under controversy to this day.
Lyles’ call for racial equity investments was answered by a $250 million public-private partnership.
“You know, this investment is being called the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative,” she had said.
It was an initiative that set up millions of dollars’ worth of investments in areas of Charlotte with the most need.
At times, the mayor clashed with her neighbors, like in 2023, when she demolished her historic McCrorey Heights home.
The permit was issued five days before Charlotte City Council established the neighborhood as a historic district.
Steady leadership
However, the mayor’s leadership remained steady.
As conversations about affordable housing, racial equity, and economic development took place, there was a central theme behind the scenes: Transit.
For five years, the mayor actively worked to get a transit package before voters.
She courted the business community, and she courted lawmakers in Raleigh.
In 2025, there was a breakthrough: The Pave Act.
Mecklenburg County voters had the choice on whether they wanted to raise the sales tax by a penny to fund the light rail, bus, and road improvements for decades.
Lyles had told Channel 9’s Joe Bruno that the placement on the ballot was why she wanted to run for a fifth term.
“To finish some of the things that I think are most important for this community, the transportation bills,” she said.
The transit tax passed, which was a crowning achievement in an otherwise year filled with controversies.
Questions raised
Privately, some council members grew frustrated over what they perceived as an iron-fisted rule.
The mayor, along with the city of Charlotte, was under fire for a secret settlement with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s former chief, Johnny Jennings.
Councilmember Victoria Watlington accused the city of shady back-room dealings.
The mayor declined to answer questions after an investigation cleared Charlotte of wrongdoing.
The mayor’s leadership was also called into question after the stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska.
The nation was outraged over the arrest of a repeat offender charged with Zarutska’s murder.
Lyles remained largely behind the scenes as Charlotte became a poster city for violent crime.
The signs
There were signs that Lyles would step away. The mayor stopped attending almost all rezoning meetings.
Other ceremonial events were often delegated to other council members.
And privately, some of her colleagues questioned whether she had the stamina or desire to serve in the role.
Soon, she will no longer serve the role. Her last day is June 30.
From the affordable housing that has been built to the transit lines that will one day be constructed, she will leave as one of Charlotte’s most accomplished mayors in the Queen City’s history.
And perhaps, not the last from her family.
“I have four granddaughters, and I think any one of them could be a great mayor,” Lyles said in the past.
What next?
This sets up a chaotic next few weeks. The Charlotte City Council will have to appoint an interim mayor. That can be someone currently on the council or an outsider.
Then all eyes turn to 2027, which is when voters will have a say.
Lyles said she will not make any endorsement of a potential successor at this time, but notes the city will be in the “capable hands” of the city manager and staff.
Read more about what could happen here.
‘She always listened’: Charlotte activists reflect on Lyles’ leadership
There was a moment in 2020 that Charlotte activists say they’ll never forget about Lyles. During an Uptown protest following the killing of George Floyd, Lyles kneeled with protesters.
They said they just wanted Lyles to share in their grief, but over her tenure, they got more than just that.
Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz was there when Lyles met with protesters in front of the government center. She came down from her office to chants of “Walk with us,” and then she did exactly that.
On Thursday, activists told Channel 9 that Lyles is a steady leader, even if they have their differences with her.
“I think she will go down as a good mayor who led us to a place as far as she could,” said Kristie Puckett Williams.
“You probably can’t say Charlotte within the last 35 years without mentioning Vi Lyles,” said Robert Dawkins.
Puckett-Williams and Dawkins say they both have respect for Lyles, even if they don’t always agree with her.
“You appreciated the time you got in her office and you always left that feeling you were heard and you left with some info; and there’s plenty of time when we left and she’s like, yeah that’s not going to happen,” Dawkins said.
“She was also very respectful, she always listened, she never denigrated,” Puckett-Williams said.
Days into the George Floyd protests, Lyles walked the streets of Uptown alongside protesters, later kneeling with them in the middle of the road to pray.
“She saw that people were in pain and she tried to address that pain,” Puckett-Williams said. “Her walking was an expression of her grief as well.”
Puckett-Williams will be the first to tell you that there were tense moments with the mayor and gaps in things that she didn’t get done.
“When we look at Brooklyn Village and the promises and things that haven’t happened and we see all the new buildings but no real preservation,” Puckett-Williams told Sáenz.
The loose ends are for the next mayor to deal with. But for now, these activists just admire a woman whose role as mayor may be coming to an end, but their respect for her leadership remains.
“You never went in and thought Vi didn’t have the city’s best interest at heart,” Dawkins said.
Something both activists told Sáenz they were grateful for is that Lyles isn’t a career politician. She worked for the city for decades and knows how city business works, and they say that has been a benefit.
‘Never lost it’
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Former Mayor Harvey Gantt told Channel 9, “The city has now, under her leadership, is able to afford a 30-year plan for fast improvements in transportation. And we owe a lot to her because of her efforts and her vision for what she saw for the needs for the city of Charlotte.
“She was great with working with the General Assembly, which allowed us to right the referendum, which of course passed, and we are short of fending for that for years to come. I think we will appreciate Vi as we see the results in the efforts of her mobility in Charlotte. She has done a lot for mayors, the racial equity initiative. I think a lot of people are benefiting from that.”
Channel 9 also spoke with former Mayor Pat McCrory.
He said he worked closely with Lyles for many years.
She was the city’s budget director and assistant city manager during his time as mayor.
McCrory said one thing is for sure: Lyles never lost her cool.
“Our community owes a lot of thanks to Vi Lyles for her public service both in city hall as mayor and councilmember, but also as a budget manager. Her impact will be felt for a long time in Charlotte.
“One of the great strengths of Vi Lyles is her composure. Her maturity. Her professionalism. And she’s never lost it. She’s been the same person whether she was a city manager or whether she was mayor. She retained that coolness factor and dealing with some very difficult situations, never losing her temper and always representing our city in a very dignified way.”
Councilman Malcolm Graham considers her a mentor and says the city will forever be changed by her leadership
“A quiet leader committed to the city of Charlotte knows this building extremely well, and so while she’s leaving on June 30, her legacy remains in the building and her voice in the community,” Graham told Channel 9.
Graham posted on X: “I have witnessed firsthand her unwavering commitment to this city, her steady leadership through both triumph and challenge, and her deep love for the people of Charlotte. Her leadership has always been grounded in compassion, integrity, and a genuine desire to move Charlotte forward.
“From neighborhood advocacy to becoming the first Black woman elected Mayor of Charlotte, Vi Lyles has helped shape the direction and spirit of our community in profound ways. Charlotte is better because of her service, leadership, and friendship.”
Bank of America Charlotte president Kieth Cockrell told Joe Bruno that the mayor’s love for Charlotte has never been questioned.
“You never questioned her heart and her commitment, and I think that is one of the things that made her so uniquely qualified to be a leader in a city that is rapidly growing, getting younger and more diverse each and every day,” Cockrell said.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein posted on X: “I’ve had the privilege of working with Mayor Lyles for many years. Her steady leadership has guided Charlotte to an even better place. The city is stronger for her leadership, and I wish her well in her next chapter. Thank you, Vi.”
Councilwoman Dimple Ajmera said on Facebook: “Mayor Vi Lyles’ announcement today marks a major moment for our city.
“Public service at this level requires tremendous sacrifice, not just from the person serving, but from their family as well. I want to thank Mayor Lyles for her years of service to Charlotte and wish her and her family the very best in this next chapter.
“I’m keeping Mayor Vi Lyles and her loved ones in my prayers during this transition.”
Former Charlotte City Councilmember Tariq Bokhari said on Facebook:
“While we had many a battle over the years, I always had love for Mayor Vi Lyles, and I wish her nothing but the best as she transitions out of this role.
“This forces a big question out into the open much earlier than many were expecting to have to deal with it - who is going to be the next mayor. It also offers an opportunity for the several contenders with interest to commit to not running in ‘27 in exchange for being appointed to finish this term. There’s essentially 7 weeks for a council working to pass a budget (with a big tax increase) and address 77 tolls to also now decide who the next mayor will be. Grab your popcorn.”
North Carolina Sen. Phil Berger stated: “Mayor Lyles has been a guiding force for Charlotte. She was a steadfast leader who worked collaboratively with local and state officials to address the city’s pressing needs. I want to thank her for her service and wish her well in retirement.”
‘Stunned'
Reactions are mixed after Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announced she will not seek another term, though everyone we spoke with wished her well.
Supporters and fellow leaders say her impact on the city will be long‑lasting, while some residents say they’re ready for new leadership.
Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox, who took office around the same time as Lyles, said he was “stunned” by her announcement.
He called Lyles a friend, mentor, and true leader, crediting her with guiding the region through major challenges, from public transit issues to the COVID‑19 shutdown.
Knox said working alongside her taught him compassion and how to focus on what matters most: people.
Others, like Charlotte resident Laith Shehadah, said they believe the city needs a new direction.
He pointed to concerns about crime, affordable housing, and infrastructure, saying those issues have gone unresolved for years.
Knox said he wasn’t surprised by Lyles’ reason for stepping away, noting that family has always been one of her top priorities.
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