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Mayor Roberts tells why she thinks she lost primary to Vi Lyles

Mayor Jennifer Roberts says many of the voters in the Charlotte Democratic primary left the line for the choice of Mayor blank, indicating to her that people were torn.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mayor Jennifer Roberts says many of the voters in the Charlotte Democratic primary left the line for the choice of Mayor blank, indicating to her that people were torn.

However in the end, she admitted, her support wasn't there. "We heard from a lot of people that they were excited about my reelection but the people who showed up had a different idea."

In her first interview since losing the the primary on Tuesday, Roberts said she still strongly supports the anti-discrimination ordinance passed by the City Council that eventually led the legislature to counter with House Bill Two.

HB2 resulted in the loss of untold millions of dollars for Charlotte as well as major sporting and entertainment events.

"We heard from people that that again, either people really supported or people had a different viewpoint," Roberts said.

Vi Lyles, the Mayor Pro Tem who is now the Democratic choice for Mayor, said clearly HB2 and the disturbances after the shooting of Keith Scott played a significant role in the election.

In her first interview since winning, Lyles said, "That did have a lot of influence. I don't think Jennifer would have had opposition if that wasn't the case."

Roberts defended her relationship with CMPD Chief Kerr Putney who another Democratic candidate, State Senator Joel Ford said Roberts had, in his words, thrown under the bus, after the Keith Scott shooting.

"That was politics, a political statement by someone trying to gain political points," Roberts said.

Asked if her days in politics were over, Roberts said there are still many issues she is passionate about.

"I'm not going anywhere," Roberts said.

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