Viola Alexander Lyles (born September 28, 1952[1]) is an American politician serving as the 59th mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2017.

[4] Lyles was married to Wayne Alexander, a North Carolina State Attorney who went on to open his own private practice, for 12 years until his death in 1987.

[9] Following the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in September 2016, she proposed a seven-point plan to reduce racial and class divisions in the city, parts of which were approved by the council.

In 2019, Lyles chose to run for a second term and after winning the Democratic primary as the Mayoral incumbent, was challenged by Republican David Michael Rice in the general election.

[19] Lyles aided the creation of more than 27,000 new jobs by securing Charlotte as the location for expansion by Honeywell, Lowes, and Microsoft.

On November 1, 2021, Mayor Lyles launched the Racial Equity Initiative that would invest $250 million to “address inequities and remove barriers to opportunity through four priority focus areas…” The project used those funds to build a new Center for Digital Equity, invest in Charlotte's six corridors of opportunity neighborhoods, turn Johnson C. Smith University into a top HBCU,[citation needed] and ensure commitment from organizations to advance black leaders and leaders of color throughout their corporations.

One of the areas of policy that Mayor Vi Lyles focuses her efforts on is the expansion of Charlotte because it is one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation.

[20] The railway that opened in Lyles’ first term, is expected to reduce traffic accidents[22] and increase urban mobility and accessibility.