‘A breath of fresh air.’ Who is Charlotte’s incoming mayor Robert Harrington?
Charlotte will swear in Robert Harrington as its 60th mayor next week after the City Council appointed him to finish outgoing Mayor Vi Lyles’ term as she heads to an early retirement. He’ll enter the city’s highest elected office as — until this month — a political unknown.
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Harrington, an attorney, isn’t a household name. He has never run for or held an elected position before.
But beyond local government’s highest-profile roles, he has had stints leading the Arts and Science Council, Levine Museum of the New South, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system and the North Carolina Bar Association. Those who know Harrington describe him as a relentlessly positive bridge builder who can navigate politically charged issues without making enemies.
“He’s a problem solver, and he’s an investigator, and he’s a consensus builder,” said Malcolm Graham, a City Council member and longtime friend of Harrington. “He represents a breath of fresh air.”
Harrington narrowly defeated candidate Carrie Cook, a former Federal Reserve employee, in a 6-5 runoff vote Monday. Graham joined council members Ed Driggs, LaWana Slack-Mayfield and Kimberly Owens in casting both rounds of votes for him. JD Mazuera Arias and Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell sealed his victory with their support in the runoff.
Graham was one of Harrington’s earliest proponents on the council and “shepherded him through the process.”
“When the opening came, I thought the council needed someone who could help process our work, who could facilitate meetings, who could be an honest broker and change the culture in the building,” Graham said. “Rob Harrington immediately crossed my mind.”
The two have known each other for decades, Graham said. They both attend Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where Harrington is a trustee alongside Graham’s wife, and Graham previously worked with Harrington’s wife at Johnson C. Smith University. Harrington also supported Graham’s previous campaigns.
Graham described Harrington as personable, sharp and candid, which are traits Graham believes will serve him well helming the 14th-largest city in America.
The city must return structure to council proceedings and adhere to its policies and procedures, Graham said. Weekly meetings have devolved into a morass of stacked motions, skipped votes and speaking out of turn in the twilight of Lyles’ tenure and often run late into the evening.
Kimberly Stogner, who preceded Harrington in his current role as president of the North Carolina Bar Association, said he has experience running tight sessions. Harrington has enforced a timed agenda for bar association meetings during his tenure.
“Lawyers bill time, so we understand that time is precious,” Stogner said. “Many of us don’t want to waste time in unnecessary meetings or calls. We want to be as efficient as possible.”
Stogner has worked closely with Harrington for two years and talks to him at least once a week. He’s the type of leader who others, including herself, lean on for advice during challenging times, Stogner said.
Slow to anger and curious to hear varying opinions, Stogner said Harrington regularly manages “thorny issues” at the Bar Association and even with the General Assembly.
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“People really believe that their perspective is the right perspective, and that people should get on board with their perspective,” Stogner said. “Rob has now had two years in a leadership role of navigating those types of challenges and trying to bring people into collaboration instead of conflict.”
Amy Hawn Nelson, chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board of Trustees, said Harrington is a team player and “exactly the person you want to have your back.”
She recalled a recent library board meeting where tempers flared and attendees hurled criticism her way. From across the room, she noticed Harrington scanning the situation and weighing whether to intervene, she said. Silently, she assured him she was OK.
“I knew that if I really needed someone to have my back or needed someone to step in, he would’ve been there. All I would’ve had to do was nod my head,” Hawn Nelson said. “That’s the leader he is. He is a steady presence … But usually he runs such a good process around something that you don’t even need (his intervention).”
Hawn Nelson and other library leaders co-signed a letter of support urging the City Council to appoint Harrington, citing his integrity and “deep respect for people and process.”
Harrington served on the board for about two years and played an integral role in fundraising for the new Main Library, expected to open in May 2027. He brought stakeholders from across the city together to donate toward a shared goal, the letter said.
Harrington also led the library’s racial equity task force in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in 2020, which ignited a wave of racial reckonings across the country. His work helped rename branches and take steps toward racial justice within the library system, Hawn Nelson said.
“Rob is committed to fostering diverse perspectives and approaches decisions with genuine respect for board members, staff, and established processes,” the letter reads. “His steady, collaborative nature helped create an environment where ideas could be fully explored and trust could flourish – especially during moments of complexity and change.”
He’s less concerned with taking public stances on flashpoint issues than with following an orderly process to land on the right decision as a collective body, Hawn Nelson said.
Harrington previously identified himself as a “process person” in an interview with The Charlotte Observer. He analyzes issues as they come up and listens to all voices at the table in an orderly fashion, he said.
Under his leadership, when the council makes decisions, it would do so with a full set of information and everybody feeling heard regardless of the outcome, he said.
“He’s really focused on process,” Hawn Nelson said. “If you have a really strong process, it typically gives you really strong outcomes. I think he’s done as much as anyone to really show us how to do that well.”
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