New Charlotte outpost for lobbying firm

Two former Charlotte City Council members who built a reputation as a rare bipartisan pairing are stepping into a different kind of public role: paid advocates.

Tariq Bokhari and Larken Egleston will lead a new Charlotte office for The Southern Group, a government relations firm that already operates in Raleigh, the company said in an announcement dated Jan. 21, 2026. 

Their argument for why Charlotte needs them is simple and pointed. Egleston told Axios that Charlotte “punches below its weight in Raleigh,” not because the city lacks importance, but because many organizations lack a coordinated senior-level approach to government engagement. 

What comes next will matter to anyone who has ever wondered how big decisions form before a vote is taken, before a zoning hearing begins, before a state budget line appears with a city’s name on it.

Why this matters in Charlotte

Charlotte’s economy is large. Its relationship to state power is complicated. The General Assembly writes rules that can expand or limit what cities can do, and state agencies steer money and regulatory decisions that shape housing, transportation, and development.

A lobbying firm opening a Charlotte office is not gossip. It is a sign that the city’s private sector is investing more in the quiet work of influencing policy, and that two well-known former elected officials are betting their value now lies in relationships, process knowledge, and access. 

What we know

• The move: The Southern Group announced the launch of its Charlotte office on Jan. 21, 2026, calling it the firm’s second North Carolina location alongside Raleigh. 
• The leadership: Bokhari and Egleston will lead the Charlotte office. 
• The pitch: They say Charlotte’s business interests need more consistent representation in Raleigh and that the city has underbuilt its government-relations infrastructure compared with peer metros. 
• The brand: Local coverage notes their prior work together, including the “R&D in the QC” podcast, and frames the duo as an explicit bipartisan partnership. 

What is not yet clear

Lobbying is legal. Influence is not always legible.

The public does not yet have an easy way to answer the questions that actually matter day to day:

• Which clients hire the new Charlotte office first
• Which policy fights and regulatory issues those clients want to shape
• What meetings, outreach, and advocacy will occur at City Hall, in Raleigh, or inside state agencies once the client roster becomes real

Those are not accusations. They are the ordinary accountability questions that follow whenever former public officials move into paid advocacy.

The duo, and the bet they are making

Bokhari is a Republican and Egleston is a Democrat, a pairing that helped make them locally recognizable during their time on council and after. 

WSOC-TV reported that the two are “teaming up again” and quoted Bokhari in the company release saying Charlotte is home and that they feel a responsibility to give back. 

In the Axios account, Egleston’s version of “give back” is more operational: if Charlotte wants outcomes, it needs a more professional approach to the state political marketplace. 

The bet is that Charlotte’s next phase of growth will be decided less by speeches and more by the mechanics of government, and that someone should be paid to work those mechanics full time.

What The Southern Group says it will focus on

The Southern Group’s announcement describes Charlotte as a fast-growing economic hub and says the new office will focus on sectors including finance, technology, recruitment, development, mobility, hospitality, and entertainment, among others. 

That list is broad enough to cover a large share of Charlotte’s corporate and civic ecosystem. It is also broad enough that the public will not know what this office truly is until the first client list and the first visible policy priorities emerge.

A familiar civic tension, now in a new chapter

Charlotte’s civic life often runs on a split-screen. On one side are public meetings, votes, and formal debate. On the other are private conversations that shape what is even possible, and what ends up on the agenda at all.

A lobbying firm opening a Charlotte office sits on that second screen.

If Bokhari and Egleston succeed, some Charlotte institutions may get better at competing for attention in Raleigh and navigating state rules. If they fail, the city will remain what it sometimes feels like today: economically consequential, politically episodic.

Either way, the public should insist on clarity about who is paying for influence, what they want, and how it is pursued.

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About the Author

Jack Beckett is a senior writer for The Charlotte Mercury, covering how local decisions get made and who gets heard along the way. He runs on documents, deadlines, and coffee that tastes like it has read the zoning ordinance twice.

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Creative Commons License

© 2026 The Charlotte Mercury / Strolling Ballantyne
This article, “Bokhari and Egleston Join The Southern Group to Open Charlotte Lobbying Office,” by Jack Beckettis licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0.

“Bokhari and Egleston Join The Southern Group to Open Charlotte Lobbying Office”
by Jack Beckett, The Charlotte Mercury (CC BY-ND 4.0)