CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The race to represent south Charlotte on Charlotte City Council is still neck and neck.
As of the morning after Election Day, Republican Tariq Bokhari, who has represented District 6 since 2017, is narrowly ahead of Democrat Stephanie Hand by more than 300 votes.
Hand had the lead among early voters, but things started to shift with more precincts reporting. In the July 2022 local election, Hand also held the lead among early voters, but Bokhari ultimately won with 357 more votes.
"We left everything on the field in this campaign," Bokhari said. "Whether it was raising money, spending money, sending over 300,000 pieces of mail, making over 100,000 live person calls to voters."
A hot topic in this race was Hand’s work history and whether she oversaw airports like she previously said she did.
Bokhari went after Hand, saying she misled voters.
Despite what unofficial results are showing, Hand said she'll fight to the finish.
"When people go low, I’m going to continue to go high," she said. "Because I think there is a better way in which we govern, in which we lead."
Race results could shift as more absentee and provisional ballots are counted. Mecklenburg County Election Officials said those votes will be updated in the results next week.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.