CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WCNC) - Voters ended more than two decades of Republican leadership in Charlotte Tuesday by electing Democrat Anthony Foxx the city's second African American mayor – and its youngest in memory.

In Charlotte's closest mayoral race in years, Foxx won just over 51 percent of the vote over Republican John Lassiter. He's the first Democrat and African American elected mayor since Harvey Gantt.

“It's been 22 years since we've had this moment," he told cheering supporters at the Westin hotel. He went on to thank Lassiter for a "race well run."

"The work of rebuilding our community starts very soon...we will work together, Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated, white and black and Hispanic. We will pull Charlotte together."

Lassiter was conceding shortly after 10 p.m. when his cell phone rang.

"Oh, it's Anthony," he said, telling Foxx he was live on TV. He congratulated him and said, "You can count on me in any way I can serve this city. Good luck to you … and you enjoy this night."

Foxx won with support from north, east and west Charlotte and heavy straight-ticket voting that also gave Democrats a new 8-3 City Council majority.

He benefited from strong turnouts and support in some predominantly African-American precincts. At East Stonewall AME Zion Church off Beatties Ford Road, for example, he won 1,307 votes to Lassiter's 3.

Foxx appeared to ride momentum that began a year ago when Barack Obama carried Charlotte by more than 25 percentage points. At 35 percent, the city's proportion of African-American voters is more than a third higher than when Gantt was first elected in 1983.

After 14 years of Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, Foxx campaigned on a platform of change and promised to help Charlotte to "reach its true potential." At 38, he's a year younger than McCrory was when he was first elected at 39.

Throughout the campaign, Foxx stressed his own story: growing up in west Charlotte with a single mother and grandparents, becoming the first black student body president at Davidson College, and going on to study law at New York University.

Lassiter, a lawyer and businessman, campaigned on experience. He brought a long resume of community service -- as a neighborhood leader, planning commissioner, school board member and a City Council member since 2003. He said this offered a stark contrast to Foxx, a council member for four years.

But change trumped experience for many voters.

Foxx supporter Lachelle Smith took her 5-year-old son Julius Hall to the polls at Hawthorne High School. He pointed to Foxx's picture on a campaign flyer. "Why's he running for mayor?" he asked.

"He wants to make changes in the city to help us," Smith replied.

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