Charlotte mayor Vi Lyles secures Democratic nomination despite political fallout of train killing

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Democratic mayor secured a comfortable win in a primary election despite days of intense backlash following the deadly stabbing of a young Ukrainian woman on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mayor Vi Lyles is seeking a fifth term but is coming under criticism after images of the attack sparked widespread outrage from President Donald Trump to other Republicans and figures in the “Make America Great Again” movement. They say the killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska shows how Democrats are too soft on people with criminal records. Democrats who challenged her in the primary also said the mayor’s response has been insufficient.

The killing is fueling Trump’s tough-on-crime campaign as he seeks to take over law enforcement agencies in Democratic-led cities. It’s also given Trump and his allies a way to make an appeal to the American public as they indict measures spurred by Democrats to fight bias in police and courts, despite violent crime having decreased nationwide.

Trump has not specifically criticized the mayor, but said the victim’s “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail.”

Despite the attack and its fallout, Lyles remained the front-runner for reelection.

Four lesser-known Democratic candidates challenged Lyles in the primaries. One of them, Brendan Maginnis, mentioned the stabbing prominently in his Aug. 29 public safety plan, saying he would prevent similar tragedies on Charlotte’s light rail. Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel said Lyles was a “day late and a dollar short.”

Lyles will take on Republican Terrie Donovan, a real estate agent who faced no primary opposition in the heavily Democratic city, in the November general election. She had already made crime her top issue even before the killing. Donovan released a statement on the case.

“This tragedy must serve as a wake up call for all of us to demand better from our elected officials,” Donovan said in a statement.

Charlotte’s politics shifted to the left over the past generation as North Carolina’s population surged, particularly in urban areas where affluent, out-of-state transplants taking high-tech jobs weren’t necessarily attracted to Republicans’ conservative agenda on social issues.

In the city, 42% of the voters are registered as Democrats, 17% are registered as Republicans. Almost 40% are unaffiliated, but are able to vote in Democratic or Republican primaries.

Lyles became mayor in 2017 after unseating incumbent Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat whose one two-year term was marked by battles such as the city’s handling of violence that erupted after a man’s shooting death by a police officer.

Lyles has never been seriously challenged since winning her first term, when she defeated her Republican rival with 59% of the vote. She won reelection in 2023 with 74% of the general election vote.

Lyles posted an open letter on social media late Monday, calling Zarutska’s death a “tragic failure by the courts and magistrates.”

“Our police officers arrest people only to have them quickly released, which undermines our ability to protect our community and ensure safety,” Lyles added.

“We need a bipartisan solution to address repeat offenders who do not face consequences for their actions and those who cannot get treatment for their mental illness and are allowed to be on the streets.”

Records show the suspect in Zarutska’s death, Decarlos Brown Jr., had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade. Brown had 14 prior cases in Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, including serving five years for robbery with a dangerous weapon. He’d been briefly committed for schizophrenia and was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital. The Justice Department filed federal charges against Brown on Tuesday.

In a statement after the Aug. 22 killing and Brown’s arrest, Lyles said: “Tragic incidents like these should force us to look at what we are doing across our community to address root causes.”

“We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health,” she wrote.

Lyles’ statement drew some criticism, but the crime drew more national attention after video of the deadly stabbing became public over the weekend. Lyles could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

After the video’s release, Lyles thanked news outlets for not broadcasting the footage of the attack “out of respect for Iryna’s family.”

The online backlash was swift and fierce. Figures such as billionaire Elon Musk, activist Charlie Kirk and conservative podcasters Matt Walsh and Jack Posobiec, have been actively posting about the case.

Some critics have referenced race, noting the suspect is Black and accusing Democratic leaders of being too racially sensitive. Lyles, who is Charlotte’s first Black female mayor, is not the first Black Democratic leader to face criticism from Trump and his allies, as the president has targeted cities with Black mayors for federal intervention.

On Tuesday, the White House released a video of Trump in the Oval Office addressing Zarutska’s case. Trump accused Democrats of adopting policies that release offenders too easily, saying the most dangerous cities are run by Democrats. Most of the country’s larger cities have Democratic mayors.

“In Charlotte, North Carolina, we saw the results of these policies when a 23-year-old woman who came here from Ukraine met her bloody end on a public train,” Trump said, adding she was killed by someone “who is roaming free after 14 prior arrests.”

Reaction to the video of the attack also spilled into other upcoming elections, including the race for U.S. Senate next year. Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who is running for the seat, accused former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat who entered the race, of “bearing direct responsibility” for signing an executive order in 2020 to study solutions to tackle racial bias in the criminal justice system.

The 2020 order didn’t give anyone authority to release state prisoners, however.

Cooper’s campaign on Tuesday accused Whatley of lying, while at the same time it promoted Cooper’s work history, which also included time as state attorney general.

Cooper “spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and drug dealers, increasing the penalties for violence against law enforcement, and keeping thousands of criminals off the streets and behind bars,” his campaign said in an email.

___ Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.