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Violent crime in Charlotte, North Carolina, has ignited a political storm, with Republican lawmakers pointing to the city’s rising homicide rate as evidence that Mayor Vi Lyles’ leadership has faltered.
“When you are in charge of a city, it’s your job to put the best possible foot forward and create as best of a perception as you can. Now, that perception may or may not match reality. In the case of Charlotte, the perception does not match the reality,” Addul Ali, North Carolina District 12 GOP chairperson, told Fox News Digital.
Recent federal immigration raids in the Charlotte area and lawmakers calling for National Guard deployments have complicated City Hall’s messaging on public safety success.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s third-quarter report shows overall crime down 8% from January through September compared with a year earlier. Lyles has pointed to those numbers to argue that investments in recruiting, pay and targeted enforcement are working.
However, the messaging comes as Charlotte faces intensifying scrutiny over violent crime, with Republican lawmakers pointing to the sharp rise in homicides and aggravated assaults in the Queen City’s bustling downtown.
“It is almost weekly, daily at this point, that we’re hearing about homicides in Charlotte. We’ve averaged about 100 or so homicides annually on this mayor’s watch,” Ali said, sharing his recent attendance of multiple vigils for young children killed.
“I think the perception they’re trying to create is one thing, but the reality is something different. And obviously, there’s been an epidemic of underreporting of certain crimes to try to gin those statistics. And I think that’s something we’re dealing with potentially here in Charlotte as well.”
The rise in violent crime has prompted Republican lawmakers to urge Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard. For now, the governor has resisted that call, and local officials have argued that public safety remains a local responsibility.
“Recently, the city faced eight homicides in seven days. The murder rate in uptown Charlotte is now 200% higher than it was a year ago,” a letter from a trio of Republican lawmakers said. “According to the Fraternal Order of Police, aggravated assaults involving knives or guns have risen from 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period.”
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Lyles was most recently re-elected in November, winning a fifth term in office. Her re-election came after her leadership was scrutinized for her response to Iryna Zarutska’s violent stabbing in August.
Ali acknowledged that, from a purely political standpoint, Lyles has shown skill in maintaining her seat. But Ali argued that her success reflects broader political dynamics rather than voter enthusiasm for her leadership.
“This is the intersection of national and local politics,” he said, noting that one-party dominance at the federal level often triggers a swing in the opposite direction locally. He suggested that Lyles “benefited from a lot of anti-Trump sentiment in the local election.”
Ali also pointed to low voter turnout, roughly 20 to 21% in recent municipal elections, as evidence that her re-election may not indicate strong local support.
“I don’t think that that is necessarily indicative of her doing a good job,” he said. “If we saw a 30 or 40% increase in people specifically voting for her, that would be something we could point to.”
He further noted that “there are city council people who got more votes than she did,” calling that “telling” about how residents view her performance.
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Ultimately, Ali said he wasn’t surprised by Lyles’ victory.
“I’m not surprised when a Democrat wins in a Democrat city. I am not shocked to see that,” he said, adding that some voters are firmly loyal to their party. “There is a group of folks who will vote blue no matter who. There’s nothing you can say – no amount of death, no amount of economic uncertainty – nothing you could say, because Donald Trump’s the ‘evil yellow man,’ and we must vote skin color and party line.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Lyles’ office for comment.
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