Daniel G. Clodfelter (born June 2, 1950) is an American politician and attorney from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. He served as a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the State's thirty-seventh Senate district, which includes constituents in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

County, from January 1999 through April 8, 2014, when he resigned after being appointed

Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina The office of the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina is currently held by Democrat Vi Lyles, who took office in December 2017 after defeating Republican Kenny Smith in the November election. The office was established in 1853, when William F. ...

Education and legal career

Clodfelter was born in

Thomasville, North Carolina Thomasville is a city in Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 27,183 at the 2020 census. The city was once notable for its furniture industry, as were its neighbors High Point and Lexington. This Piedmont Triad commu ...

and graduated from Thomasville Senior High School, after attending one of the first sessions of the

Governor's School of North Carolina The Governor's School of North Carolina (GS, GSNC) is a publicly funded residential summer program for intellectually gifted high school students in the state of North Carolina. North Carolina's Governor's School was the first such program in the ...

in 1966. He earned a bachelor's degree from Davidson College, where he was a brother of

Sigma Phi Epsilon Sigma Phi Epsilon (), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), and its national headquarte ...

fraternity. In 1972 and was named a Rhodes Scholar and earned another bachelor's degree from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

in 1974. He then attended the

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

, earning his J.D. degree in 1977. Clodfelter served as a law clerk for Judge James B. McMillan of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of N.C. from 1977–78, after which he entered private practice in Charlotte.

Political career

Clodfelter served as a member of the

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, representing District One (East Charlotte) from 1987 to 1993. Clodfelter was elected to the

North Carolina Senate The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...

in 1998 and for many years served as Co-Chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and as Vice Chair of the Judiciary One Committee. Clodfelter has been a Trustee of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation since 1982.

Mayor of Charlotte

After Charlotte Mayor

Patrick Cannon Patrick DeAngelo Cannon (born November 27, 1966) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served on the City Council of Charlotte, North Carolina from 1994 through 2013 and was subsequently elected the city's 56th Mayo ...

resigned from his office on 26 March 2014, several members of the

Charlotte City Council The Charlotte City Council is the legislative body of the City of Charlotte and forms part of a council–manager system of government. The Council is made up of eleven members and the Mayor, all elected to two-year terms in odd-numbered years. ...

expressed their support for Clodfelter to fill out Cannon's term. His appointment as mayor was endorsed by ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

''.Charlotte Observer
/ref> On April 7, 2014, the City Council appointed Clodfelter as mayor. He resigned as a member of the North Carolina Senate on April 8, and was sworn in as mayor of Charlotte on April 9. He ran for a full term in 2015 but was defeated in the primary by Jennifer Roberts.

Family

Daniel Clodfelter is married to Elizabeth K. Bevan; they have two adult children.

References

External links