Mayor Vi Lyles of Charlotte, North Carolina, won Tuesday’s Democratic Party mayoral primary in an election overshadowed the past few days by the deadly stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee aboard a city train.
The stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska last month on a light-rail train by a man with a history of mental illness and over a dozen arrests quickly grabbed national attention and reignited a conversation about crime after security video of the gruesome attack was released and went viral.
Lyles’ response to the slaying has been criticized, and Republicans claim the mayor and other Democrats are too soft on people with criminal records.
While not specifically criticizing the mayor, President Donald Trump on Monday argued that the victim’s “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail.”
Trump also placed blame for Zarutska’s killing on former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who is now running for the Senate in battleground North Carolina in a crucial 2026 showdown that may determine if Republicans keep control of the chamber.
The Charlotte killing came amid Trump’s focus this summer on spotlighting horrific crimes in Democrat-controlled cities as he moves federal forces into urban areas.
Decarlos Brown Jr., who is Black, was arrested soon after the stabbing and charged with first-degree murder.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice charged Brown with one count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system.
According to police records, he was arrested 14 times over the past 12 years.
Lyles, who is Charlotte’s first Black female mayor, faced four lesser-known challengers in the Democratic primary, with the killing increasingly in the spotlight.
One of the mayor’s rivals, Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel, accused Lyles’ response of being a “day late and a dollar short.”
Lyles now advances to the general election in the Democrat-dominated city against Republican nominee Terrie Donovan, a real estate agent who had already made crime her top issue even before the killing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
