CHARLOTTE, NC — In less than a week, voters will take to the polls again in the race for Charlotte Mayor. This time to decide who will run against Republican Edwin Peacock.
Wednesday morning, Democrats Jennifer Roberts and Mayor Dan Clodfelter squared off in their first debate.
“I’ve never been to a forum, personally, and I just wanted to see how it all worked and what the answers were from both sides,” said Elizabeth resident Kathy Kennedy Miller.
Voters filled the McGlohon Theatre to ask Mayor Dan Clodfelter and Jennifer Roberts questions before choosing who to vote for.
“What I’m looking for is someone who is really going to help out the communities, really work in the communities not just say, ‘Yeah I’m going to do it’ and then they sit and not,” said Optimist Park resident Mazella McIntyre.
The two met on stage just a day after Robert’s campaign fired back at claims made in a Clodfelter advertisement.
“When you’re not the front runner, when you’re behind people, sometimes have to go negative,” said Jennifer Roberts.
Clodfelter claimed Roberts championed cutting school funding by some $56 million while Chair of the County Commission.
“We verified every one of the facts before we used them, every one of them published data,” said Mayor Clodfelter.
Roberts’ campaign sent a mailer saying Clodfelter is lying.
“I’m calling him someone who makes statements that are factually inaccurate, and I have to correct my record,” said Roberts.
Roberts says she wants to convey to voters education has always been a top priority for her.
“While I was a commissioner voting on budgets, from beginning to end, we raised funding for CMS: $89 million dollars,” said Roberts.
Mayor Clodfelter says he wants to remind people he’s already been leading the city as Mayor.
“I wanted to be sure people understood that I’m on the job. A lot of these questions for me aren’t hypothetical about what I would do, they’re questions about what I am doing and have already been doing,” said Clodfelter.
The runoff election is Tuesday October 6th. The winner will go up against Republican Edwin Peacock on Election day, November 3rd to elect the next Mayor of Charlotte.
