Claims Over Conflicts of Interest Latest Point of Contention in D5 Race

A town hall debate between Charlotte City Council District 5 candidates Marjorie Molina and Juan Diego “JD” Mazuera Arias on Aug. 7 saw the opposing candidates expressing their differences on stage for over an hour without much contention.

The final question of the debate asked each candidate to name what they saw as a positive about the other’s campaign. Each candidate answered easily enough, voicing the respect they had for their opponent and confirming that they would be willing to work with the other if the race did not turn out in their own favor. 

However, over the last month of the campaign since that town hall, things have turned contentious, with SEIU mailers claiming the incumbent Molina is “Missing in Action” and “leaving our neighborhoods behind” in preference to special interests while Molina in turn has called her opponent’s campaign “disgraceful” on social media. 

“It is evil … Dangerous … Filled with the worse [sic] of what the Democrat party offers … It’s racist … Filled with defamation … And lies!!!!” she wrote on Twitter on Friday morning. 

Molina was elected to council in 2022 to represent District 5 in east Charlotte and again in 2023 as her first term was shortened due to COVID-19. She is challenged in the Democratic primary by Mazuera Arias, chair of the Hispanic Democratic Caucus of Mecklenburg County and former legislative fellow for US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

With no Republican running in District 5, the winner of the city’s Democratic primary election on Sept. 9 will take the seat.

Read more: A Guide to Charlotte City Council’s 2025 Primary Elections

The latest claims against Molina came in a press release that excoriated her for alleged conflicts of interest through her employer. 

With early voting in full swing, a press release sent out on Tuesday by the Charlotte Housing Justice Coalition (CHJC) points out that architecture and engineering firm K2M Design, where Molina has worked since 2024, has ties to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the construction of prisons and detention facilities.

CHJC, a grassroots community group that advocates for residents facing displacement and homelessness, also claims that Molina’s position with K2M Design may have influenced her vote on a city council measure that aimed to improve airport workers’ pay and safety. 

Molina became K2M Design’s senior business development executive in October 2024. On its website, the firm praised her experience in financial services and business development.

“Her deep community ties and proven leadership will be instrumental in … accelerating … K2M’s growth initiatives in civic, public safety, criminal justice, and hospitality in the Carolinas,” the site reads.

In its release this week, CHJC raised concerns about the company’s work in the criminal justice and incarceration space, noting that K2M Design has its own Corrections Practice Group that pursues detention and jail projects. 

In 2017, during President Trump’s first term and before Molina joined the company, K2M Design’s Correctional Practice Group Leader Scott Moore attended an American Correctional Association conference where he noted his firm’s growing business opportunity as a result of Trump’s election. 

“The immigration crack down proposed by President Trump would require the construction of 1000’s of additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds for immigrants that will be detained,” Moore wrote in his recap of the conference. “The Private Sector has provided these beds in the past because it is a much quicker solution than a government option.”

CHJC also cited a K2M Design proposal from January 2025, after Molina had joined, which highlights the work of its subcontractor MCM Consulting Group, Inc. in converting the Leavy County Public Safety Complex in Florida into an ICE detention center.

Read more: NC’s Latest Anti-Immigration Legislation Adds to the Culture of Fear

“This paints a troubling picture,” reads the CHJC release, “an elected official drawing a paycheck from a firm that profits off of jail and ICE detention construction while ignoring the needs of constituents who are fighting for safer conditions and an end to poverty wages.”

In a written statement to Queen City Nerve responding to this week’s release, Molina countered that her work at K2M Design has never involved work on detention facilities.

“Let me be absolutely clear: I have never worked on any ICE detention projects at K2M Design,” Molina states. “My role has always been focused on community infrastructure that benefits Charlotte since beginning and throughout my tenure in 2024. 

“In fact, as someone who has personally navigated the immigration sponsorship process for my own family, I understand these issues intimately,” she continues. “My children are 1/2 first-generation Americans, and I have always stood for policies that uphold fairness and community trust. Any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply untrue. I serve the people of Charlotte with integrity, and my record of championing safe, equitable growth speaks for itself.” 

In the release, CHJC also questioned Molina’s role in securing government contracts for her employer, noting that K2M Design “has held multiple contracts with Charlotte Douglas International Airport.” 

CHJC adds that Molina voted against bringing the Charlotte Acting for Safety and Efficiency (CASE) Ordinance to committee in June 2025. 

With Mayor Vi Lyles casting the tiebreaker vote, Charlotte City Council voted 6-5 against passing the proposed ordinance to the Budget, Governance, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee for an in-depth review. 

The CASE ordinance would have boosted pay and safety standards for airport workers employed by airline contractors. City Attorney Anthony Fox stated the city’s position that CASE violates preemption, which refers to the restrictions that North Carolina state law places on municipal law. 

In effect, the city’s position is that state law prohibits the city from dictating what an independent contractor pays its workers, though council members who supported the June motion requested that, if a CASE ordinance could not be approved by law, the issue be sent to committee to explore how the city could amend its RFP policies to consider how contractors pay and treat their workers. 

Council reps Dante Anderson, Ed Driggs, Edwin Peacock III, Malcolm Graham and Molina cast the “no” votes.

At a May 27 business meeting, one month prior to the vote, council members Tiawana Brown, Victoria Watlington and Reneé Johnson raised the subject of airport worker pay and safety.

“Acknowledging Fox’s claims, they asked that the committee review what can be done to ensure the city isn’t allowing companies that mistreat or endanger their employees to operate at the airport,” Begley-Collier says. “Lyles refused the request.”  

After the Council vote on June 23, Chris Baumann, Southern Region director for Service Employees International Union Workers (SEIU) United, vowed that the mayor and other anti-labor local leaders would be held accountable at the ballot box. 

The union has since announced its official endorsement of Mazuera Arias, as has NC Rep. Jordan Lopez, who represents a large swatch of east Charlotte in the North Carolina House of Representatives. 

Notable endorsements for Molina include the Black Political Caucus of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

The LGBTQ+ Dems of Mecklenburg County has rated both candidates as “Excellent.” 

Ryan Pitkin contributed reporting to this story.