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Pat McCrory announced his transition team Thursday. Click below to see all the members and biographies provided by the McCrory campaign.

Charlotte defied what there was of a national tide Tuesday night, electing a Democratic mayor and 8 to 3 Democratic majority on city council.

Anthony Foxx became Charlotte's first Democratic mayor in 22 years and the second youngest in memory, defeating Republican John Lassiter on a night when Republicans won the Virginia and New Jersey governor's races. The explanation lies at least partly in Charlotte's demographic changes and the lack of a Democratic challenger with any political muscle in past races.

Now-U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican, defeated then-Mayor Harvey Gantt, a Democrat and African-American, in 1987, beginning a GOP hold on the office that didn't end until last night. But Myrick won by fewer than 1,000 votes in a city that was then 25 percent black. Charlotte is now 35 percent black, and Foxx will be the second African-American mayor.

In seven campaigns over 14 years, outgoing Mayor Pat McCrory never faced a strong Democratic opponent. He does, however, enjoy wide bipartisan support that a recent poll indicated was helping Lassiter.

Lastly Republicans failed to expand their base of support beyond the south-to-southeast wedge of Charlotte that has long been their base.

Pat McCrory may have lost last year’s race for governor and then opted not to run for reelection as Charlotte’s mayor, but he’s still got clout with voters.

McCrory’s popularity among Charlotte voters is boosting the campaign of his fellow Republican, John Lassiter, according to an analysis by Tom Jensen, of the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling.

McCrory holds broad support among Republicans and even more than a third of Democrats approve of the job he has done.

“His 69 percent approval with independents is one of the best we've measured for any politician in the country this year,” Jensen wrote in a recent blog posting.

More than a third of Charlotteans have no preference in the mayoral race between Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter, according to a new Elon University Poll released today.

The poll's analysts said the two candidates have yet to differentiate themselves in the eyes of residents. The poll, conducted in cooperation with Johnson C. Smith University, was part of a larger survey of Mecklenburg County residents. Complete results will be released tomorrow at Johnson C. Smith.

The poll did not ask a head-to-head question in the mayoral race. Instead it asked if Charlotte residents would approve or disapprove of each man as mayor. Thirty-nine percent said they would approve of Foxx. Forty-four percent would approve of Lassiter. The margin of error is 5.9 percentage points. And 35 percent said they were undecided about which party they'll support in November.

The Elon poll shows Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, faring better in Mecklenburg than the state as a whole. In the survey, 35 percent of county residents approve of her performance while 48 percent disapprove. More than half of county residents don't like the way she has handled the state's budget and economy. The margin of error in the county-wide sample is 4.9 percentage points. One poll earlier this month by a Democratic firm found her approval at 26 percent. A survey by a conservative group put it at 29 percent.