Charlotte Dems choose more of the same (09-10-2025--Hour1)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpeakclendarshow dot com, make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. So Charlotte Democrat voters had the opportunity to change course, to send a message in the wake of all of the national attention, mainly negative that we have been receiving by going to the polls yesterday in their Democrat primary and opting for a change of course. And Democrat voters all like forty thousand of them or so out of a city of like half a million plus registered voters, they opted to, well's stay the course there. Yeah, we're fine, this is this is good. We're gonna keep doing what we're doing. It's going very well. National attention notwithstanding, now, there was there was a bit of bad news for me. I mean, good news maybe for the city of Charlotte, but bad news for me personally yesterday because Tijuana Brown lost and it's bad news for me because that city councilwoman was a content generating machine for me. Not that this is about me, but if it was about me, this would be bad because now I'm probably not going to have as much show prep that just writes itself for me because she did lose in her primary. So I guess what it takes to oust an indicted Democrat is to just have a different Democrat run against her in the primary. That's what does it because I have no doubt had she run, or had she survived her primary, that she would have won in the general because the district she sits in is a heavy Democrat district. So she was defeated. So that's why I said that the Democrat voters largely opted for the status quo largely, but that that gain, that little bright spot, is snuffed out a wee bit by another district result, which was Marjorie Molina losing to what's this dude's name, Juan Diego Mazura Arias or JD Juan Diego JD or would that be da what D Juan Diego Masuerra Arias And give you a little bit of details about him in a minute. So it's a it's sort of a it's a trade off. Right, we lost the indicted councilwoman in the primary, but we are picking up a staffer for aoc On city council. So right, the political choices in ideology will largely remain the same, Okay, but we're just going to get some different people there, and that's going to make all the difference. See, they will be able to sell the leftist message because they know everybody agrees with the leftist message. They just haven't figured out, you know, as Democrats, they haven't figured out how to convince us of it through an appropriate slogan or a campaign pitch or something. It's just marketing. That's always been the problem, that's what they say. So they keep saying after all of these post mortems and such after the twenty twenty four election, keep saying, it's not us, it's not our messaging, or sorry, it's not our policies, it's our messaging. We just can't make these really stupid people listen to us. Wellhy won't they just agree? So they've been you know, focus group testing all sorts of different slogans and such and so maybe this former worker for AOC, he's gonna bring the goods. He's gonna be able to communicate like a Zoran Mamdani gee Hotti adjacent kami. Maybe we shall see. So first, let me go back to Tijuana Brown. Let me circle back Jen Psaki style here and give you the details here. This is from Nick Sullivan's piece at the Charlotte Observer. Joy Mayo. So you know she'd have my vote with a name like Mayo, right, because you know my fondness for the Mayo. It is the superior condiment. It's better than all other condiments. Anything any other condiment can do, Mayo can match or do better. Okay, So Joy Mayo defeated Tijuana Brown not spelled like the city. That's tiju Ana. This is tia w Ana Tijawana Brown. Anyway. She is the one who was indicted for using the COVID money allegedly for a business that really didn't do anything, if even it existed at all, allegedly, and then spent a ton of money like tens of thousands of dollars on handbags and a birthday party where she had a throne, literally a throne because she's the queen. It was her fiftieth birthday. And remember her qualification that got her the seat initially in Charlotte was the fact that she was a formerly incarcerated person, a formerly incarcerated person or an FIP whorre's I call it a FIP. She was a FIP, and that is enough to put you in charge of a district to have a vote on the direction of the city. That is all the qualification necessary. At least two years ago, she was a FIP. Now she may be a twice FIP, a double FIP, if you will, this time on federal charges. With all of the precincts reporting unofficial results, saying on a second, here I have the I have the Board of Elections website results. Here did you do? Here? We go forty nine point forty eight percent, so forty nine percent, rounding down Joy Mayo forty nine percent of the Democrat vote coming in second, Tijuana Brown at twenty five percent, former city councilman Warren Turner at twenty two percent, and then Montravious King, who actually dropped out of the race and endorsed Brown. He picked up three percent, So even if all of his support had gone to Brown, that would have still only gotten her twenty eight percent. So that is what we call in the biz a landslide, that is a wipeout. So that is good news for the City of Charlotte. I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce is very happy about this result. I'm sure a lot of the mayor and her voting block on city Council they are happy about this, right, the tourism development people, they are happy about this because, let's be fair, you know, it's not exactly a good pr lure to wu or retain businesses, attract corporate headquarters and such when you've got an indicted city council member showing up at the grippe grins, you know, it's just it's a little awkward. So she won't be around anymore to ask her meandering, uninformed questions during council meetings while she quote fights for the people. So she's gone. Mayo received a number of key endorsements heading into election day, the Black Political CAUs of Charlotte Mecklenburg, the Charlotte Mecklberg FOP, the lgbt Q plus Democrats of Mecklinburg County, and the Charlotte Observer Editorial board all favored Mayo over Ketchup and mustard. Mayo is a community activist and a leader of a nonprofit. So, okay, a community activist, Well, what could go wrong there? Sure? Okay. She became entangled Brown did in a controversy when she was indicted, which that tends to happen. You tend to get entangled in a controversy when you get indicted. That's always been my experience. Not that I've been indicted, but whenever I've seen other people get indicted, then there seems to be an entangling controversy about that. I don't know if they're related. I don't know if there's some connection there. But she was entangled in a controversy, that is true, and it was about the indictment, along with her two adult daughters on charges of wirefraud, conspiracy and wirefraud used to falsely obtain pandemic relief loans. And remember her defense was I paid it back. I paid it back after they started asking questions about how she got the loan. Then she paid it back years later, So that was her defense. And maybe that a flying court. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think it will. But maybe it will we shall see game on Week one starts now and every touchdown brings you closer to a payout. With Draft Kings sports book and official sports betting partner of the NFL, this isn't just football, it's first touchdown fireworks anytime TD rushes live bets that ride every momentum shift. At Draft Kings, every play is your next shot to win. Will the Panthers win? Will we even get a touchdown? New customers just five dollars and get three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly, plus get over two hundred dollars off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. So your season starts now. Download the Draft Kings sportsbook app and use code Pete to get three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly when you place your first bet of five dollars or more plus over two hundred dollars off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. But you got to use promo code pete. In partnership with DraftKings. 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Mayo will now go on to face Republican James Bowers in the general election in November. He lost in twenty twenty three against Tijawanna Brown. He only picked up a quarter of the vote, less than a quarter of the vote, according to the Observer, because it is such a heavy Democrat district, or is the Democrats call it fair mats? All right, let me go over to the phones here in chat with Michael. Hello, Michael, welcome to the program. Hey, how you doing. I just want to make this comment on that mayor race. I just don't understand. I'm a twenty year Navy guy. I just don't understand the people in Charlotte in that situation on the subway or the train. If that had been the other way situation, that'd be headline news for three or four weeks. And people get what they vote for. I mean, that's why people a couple of weeks ago they story people don't go to Charlotte Uptown anymore because is it like them the murder capital of its like twice the increase since last year. I don't believe that's accurate. I believe the murder number has actually come down from last year. It rose and then it came down, like over the last five years. I mean a lot of this stuff spiked during COVID and right after COVID. But but no, but no, Look, I mean, yeah, crime is definitely a problem. And even though the City Council and the CMPD will tell us crime numbers are dropping. In all of this. You see a store like this, and you see stories like we see every day on the news, and people do not feel like it is safe. And look, my wife works in Center City, and I know, I go over there, I pick her up, I know, meet her after work or something. She tells me about stuff she sees every day, and it does not feel like a safe environment. So that's what people are reacting to. Michael, I appreciate the call. The reason. Look, Mayor vy Lyles one reelection in the primary, or I said won the primary. She didn't win reelection yet, that would be November number one. Low turnout there were there was less than eight percent turnout. Ballots cast forty two thousand for forty two, So about forty two and a half thousand ballots cast out of five hundred and thirty two thousand voters. That's that's an eight percent turnout, right, So you have a very low turnout election number one and number two. Most importantly is that vy Liles is the chamber pick, she's the business pick, she's the uptown crowd pick, and she has been from the very beginning. I've said this for twenty five years regarding Charlotte. There are three political powers in Charlotte. Number one the Democrats, Number two the Republicans, and number three the Chamber. And the Chamber is the most powerful. And back in the day when Republicans could actually win at large races and Pat McCrory could win a record seven straight terms as mayor, it was because the business community back to those Republicans and if you worry Chamber candidate, you could win. And then they kept on feeding the Democrat alligator, hoping it would eat them last. And vy Lyles is of that of that power structure. In the piece at the Observer after her win last night, she is described as a lifelong public servant. And why is that, Well, because she worked for the city. She was an assistant city manager, budget director, and she is intimately aware and expert at the inner workings of the city government. And that's how she governs. It's obvious to me. All right, You hear me talk a lot about incentives, right, Well, let's talk about incentive trips, the kind that companies offer employees to fire them up and reward their teams. If you own a business, or you work somewhere that offers these incentive trips. First off, good for you, but also there is a custom app that's a game changer for these trips. It's called incentive trip Kit. 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She has been held for her deep understanding of local government and ability to reach across the Aisle to implement her agenda. She worked for years really reach across the there's only two Republicans on the eleven member body like. She worked for years as Charlott's budget director and assistancity manager. Okay, So when I say she's a bureaucrat and she governs like one, this is what I mean. Bureaucrats are rarely leaders. Right, You're in the bureaucracy, and so you're not going to be out there in public marshaling forces. You're probably working behind the scenes because that's where bureaucrats do their work. That's where they exert their power and influence. And that's what she does. And when something goes wrong, bureaucrats do not step up and say that was my fault. Yeah I did that one. No, you get the you know, I'm going to hide among the rank and file in the quote system or the city, or the county, the agency, the department. Right department officials say it's that you know a bureaucrat's name unless they do something so egregious. For example, this magistrate that let the light rail murderer go without a bond the last time he was in front of her, I'll get into that too, by the way. But this is what I mean. Why how she governs like a bureaucrat. She does this stuff behind the scenes, then makes an announcement, usually you know, some sort of a ribbon cutting or with a big fat pair of scissors or something. And that has not served Charlotte well in this moment. It has served her well. And you could say it served Charlotte well if you are all about the big fancy projects and the use of taxpayer funds to do all sorts of things, which did you see this the other day. They're gonna spend millions of dollars. I think it's like three million dollars on the Excelsior Club renovation, which was a historically black nightclub. And so we're gonna use taxpayer funds to rehab a nightclub. Okay, sure, why not? Right? I mean, why not? That's what I mean when I say she's a bureaucrat. That's all of her professional experience is working within the government as a government official. And that's why the business community likes her. That's why they can work with her. She knows how to get stuff done, she knows what levers to pull, and all of that behind the scenes, and there is a lot of people that are still on staff that worked with her and like her, and a lot of people say, you know, in one on one she's very personal and likable. I never had any problems with her when she was assistant city manager and I was a reporter and I did, you know, multiple interviews I'd talked with her in the past and stuff like that. Never had any problem with her because that was what she was doing. But as a mayor, it's a different kind of a gig, and that's something she has become I think, acutely aware of. If she wasn't before, you know, this weekend, she is now. In fact, she didn't even do any kind of election a primary night party or availability for the media yesterday because of the situation. Because I can only imagine what her social media feeds and email account inbox. I can only imagine the amount of fiery but mostly peaceful protest emails and correspondence and such that has been making its way into her digital mailboxes. I can only imagine, and I can only imagine that she's probably getting threats. You know, she's probably getting racist messages and stuff, and none of that is acceptable by the way, none of it. But people feel emboldened when they're behind a keyboard. They're anonymous, they get the internet, muscles and such. But I just I if this was if there was an if there was there's a chance for a change, Democrats, you had your chance. You have had your chance. You have had multiple chances during these primaries for the last decade, and you all just keep putting the same people back in well except for the indicted one, the formerly incarcerated Tijuana Brown. Now in the general, Lyles is going to be going up against a Republican Missoon Kim, as well as Libertarian Rob Yates. Both of them ran against her two years ago and she beat them both, So we shall see what happens there. Now there is another race, and this one, I guess is probably going to go to a recount because the margin of victory was thirty seven votes. Thirty seven votes. This is in the District five race. This is over in East Charlotte, and you've got the incumbent, Marjorie Molina, and I think she's done a perfectly acceptable job in what I've seen. I think she come from a corporate background. But she lost by thirty seven votes to Juan Diego Masuera Arias. He is a first time candidate, but has political experience working for Representative Alexandria Acazio Cortez, Democrat from New York. He also worked for the DNC as well as the Century Foundation, which is a progressive think tank. So this dude just gonna guess here is a leftist. So you swapped out the indicted one, Tijuana Brown for a community activist, and you're swapping out Marjorie Molina for an AOC staffer. Okay. He also chairs the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Mecklenburg County and touted early support from former Mayor Jennifer Roberts. That's an indictment right there, and Representative Jordan Lowe. So obviously the demographics played to his benefit. In et Charlotte, you have a much larger Hispanic vote than you do in other parts of the city, so that's you know, they saw the name and they voted, I'm assuming for the Hispanic name, and maybe that's what gave Molina the edge last time around. Maybe people thought she was a Spanic with the last name Molina. I don't know, but people vote like this. These are voting patterns like that are on exhibition on display year after year. Election after election, Molina had picked up the endorsement of the Black Political Caucus Masuera arias he got support from the SEIU because of course he did. Of course he did, and he has won the seat because there is no Republican opposition in the general election. It's also a safe Democrats seat, so even if there was a Republican he would probably still win it. So we're going to get more of the same, but maybe even harder. So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's, and before he died, my mom and my dad took care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family. But things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years. This cause means a lot to me. I participate in the annual Walk to End Alzheimer's and I'm leading a Charlotte team again this year, and it's called once Again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash walk and then you can search for my team name Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com. There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also, I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh then, so you can make a team and join that one too, or make a donation and help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot org slash walk for all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families, for more time for treatments. This is why we walk. Got a message on the Twitter machine from good Wahoo Pete. Another take on Mayor Lyles is that she has been a lifelong feeder at the public trough, lived off taxpayers her whole professional life. Oh that's fair a net tax consumer if you will, not a taxpayer. So some of the other race results from the primary yesterday, Oh yeah, the at large race, by the way, just a reminder that at large races are designed to suppress my representation. They should be abolished. Standard disclaimer there. The City of Charlotte long ago should have moved to a strictly district based system. I've been saying this for a while. In fact, it's one of the few things that I agreed with the former Charlotte City councilman and Mayor pro Tim Braxton Winston, who was a left wing activist type, but he was against the at large and he was an at large representative. Yet we need to get get rid of the at large representative seats. Make them all district seats, because there's they do not allow for any other representation onto the city council. They block out basically four seats. And the reason why originally the at large seats were designed was to keep black people from getting elected. Now it keeps Republicans from getting elected. So so number one in the Democrat primary once again, dimple Agh, Mirror, uh Lawana Slack Mayfield, James Smudgie, Mitchell and Victoria Watlington, So all four of the incumbents voted back in over. In District one, Dante Anderson easily won in her primary. She's the incumbent there. As I mentioned, Joy Mayo beat Tijuana Brown, the incumbent Renee Perkins Johnson Renee Johnson. She won by a two to one margin over Will Russell, who came out of retirement out of the NBA to run for that seat. If I recall mentioned in District five, Juan Diego Masuera Arias beat Marjorie Molina in the only Republican primary that was on the ballot. Christop Bacari beat Sorry Chukra by a lot, by like fifty percentage points, seventy six to twenty four percent. And so that's why and Ed Drake's the only other Republican on council. He did not have a primary appt So Crystal Balcari is a Republican, So she will run in the general, and that's generally seen as the that's going to be the tightest race for a Republican to win. Democrats might be able to flip that seat. I don't know, I don't even know if she has an opponent at this point, but I believe she does so, so that's that. Let me get to the text line and read some of the massages that have been coming in. Do do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do. Sorry, I'm scrawling back. Don't know who this is from. I'm remembering Keith Larson's spot on description of Charlotte as tidy town, always concerned with its optics and reputation over everything else. Indeed, it was also a little bit more than just the optics, but it was also all of the shiny new objects, the shiny things, the you know, all of the public expenditures, the light rail line, the arena, all the museums, the parks, like, all of the stuff, all of the projects, the new Convention Center, expansion, the NASCAR Hall of Fame stuff, like, all of the projects in order to you know, create this this tidy town look. That was one of the things that people would say when they came to Charlotte. One of the things they would say is that they were always surprised at how clean it was, because it was we took pride in the cleanliness of the city. Also, we tore down all of the old buildings, so like there's really no historical buildings anymore. Like if you want, like you go on a historical tour something, you're usually just going to be looking down the whole time, because that's where they put the placards and they just sink them into the concrete. You know, at this site stood some building torn down one hundred years ago. Charlotte has always been that way. So all of the brand new, shiny buildings, all the newness, all of that stuff, and people come here from older, decrepit, dirty cities and they're just like, oh my gosh, this is like the Truman Show kind of like level of cleanliness and tidiness. And it seemed like Charlotte had its act together. And then of course all of those people from other cities voted every single Republican off of all of the governing bodies. And now there's no role for Republicans to play any longer unless they're going to play ball with the Chamber and the Democrat mayor. That's the game now, and we are all suffering for it. David says, we will miss Marijuana Brown or whatever her name is. It's Tijuana. Jody says, I wonder how much transit security would Johnny Jennings's three hundred thousand dollars settlement have bought. It's a good question, and Tom ain't no way. Pete Mustard rules. Dang on second, let me just block Tom forever. Yes, Mayo is the superior condiment. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.