Robert "Rob" Harrington took the oath of office as mayor of Charlotte on Wednesday morning, ending a succession that began the day Vi Lyles announced she would leave and settling the question of who will run the city she led for nearly nine years.
Carla Archie, senior resident superior court judge for the 26th Judicial District, administered the oath. Harrington, a Robinson Bradshaw attorney who has never held elected office, will serve the remaining 18 months of Lyles's term, through December 2027. "I pledge that I will devote the next year and a half to working with you to realize our collective goals for the residents of this great city," he told the City Council members seated in front of him.
How the seat was filled
The ceremony was the quiet end of a process that was not quiet. Lyles announced on May 7 that she would step down, four months into her fifth term, to spend more time with her family. The council opened applications and drew more than 100 of them, interviewed a field of finalists in public, and on June 22 voted Harrington into the job.
That vote took two rounds. On the first ballot, no candidate reached the six votes the appointment required: Harrington had four, community advocate Carrie Cook had three, former County Commissioner Harold Cogdell had two, and Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell Jr. had two. In the runoff, Harrington beat Cook 6-5 as Mitchell's support moved to him, and the council then ratified the appointment by acclamation.
Harrington was, by his own account, not a household name when it happened. "So, who is this guy, Rob Harrington? That's a reasonable question for many," he said, recalling that when Lyles rose to read the council's decision, a camera operator scanned the gallery looking for the two remaining candidates and he raised his hand, "a little sheepishly," to help her find him.
The man and the mandate
Harrington was born in Florence, South Carolina, and moved to Charlotte 27 years ago. He is the president of the North Carolina Bar Association, and he named as mentors three predecessors who also came to the office from other lives: Harvey Gantt, the architect who became the city's first Black mayor; his own law partner, former Mayor Richard Vinroot; and Lyles herself. He quoted the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm: "service is the rent we pay for living on this earth."
He described how he intends to govern through three lenses, his word for it. "I pledge to lead with three lenses," he said. "Trust, order and efficiency, and respect." He named public safety, affordable housing, and transportation infrastructure as the issues the council will face together, "to name a few," and made no specific promises about any of them. That is consistent with the shape of the job. Harrington was appointed, not elected, and he inherits a docket the council was already carrying: a proposed roadway sales tax, a citywide moratorium on new data centers, a budget, and the transit-governance transition that has occupied much of the year.
The Reverend Dr. Joe Clifford, of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, offered the invocation, and Dr. Clifford A. Jones Sr., of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, gave the benediction. Both framed the office as an obligation more than an honor. "That spirit of celebration is under a mantle of responsibility," Jones said.
An unscripted moment belonged to the judge. Lyles introduced the person in the robe as Reverend Dr. Clifford Jones; Archie set the record straight herself. "I am not Reverend Jones," she said. "I am Carla Archie, your chief superior court judge. It's my pleasure to administer the oath to Mr. Harrington."
The mayor who left
For a swearing-in, much of the morning belonged to the person leaving it. Lyles opened the ceremony and framed the handoff as personal, telling the room she was "grateful to be able to pass it along to someone else that I consider a good friend."
Harrington returned the tribute at length, accounting for a career longer than her mayoralty: nearly nine years as mayor, four years on the council before that including two as mayor pro tem, and earlier service as the city's budget director and an assistant city manager. "For all of this, we say thank you and enjoy your well-earned retirement," he said. Her final act in office, the May zoning meeting she chaired, had already been reported as her last; the resignation she announced in May took effect at the end of June.
Harrington closed by thanking the council "for your confidence in allowing me to work with you," and said he looked forward to "a year and a half of working for Charlotte as its mayor." The next regular election for the office is in 2027. He did not say whether he intends to be on the ballot.