Leigh Altman

Leigh Altman is a Democratic at‑large member of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners and is seeking re‑election for a third term in the November 3, 2026 general election. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board and will finish her present term on December 2, 2026 if re‑elected ¹¹².

Altman earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from New College of Florida in 1994 and a Juris Doctor with honors from Florida State College of Law in 1997 ¹⁵. After law school she spent six years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Georgia Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs and the Commission on Equal Opportunity, where she was recognized as one of Georgia’s top lawyers under 40 ²¹¹. Relocating to Charlotte in 2009, she worked as a guardian ad litem for seniors and adults with disabilities, then as a staff attorney for the Council for Children’s Rights, and later as senior counsel at a private firm before opening her own practice, the Law Office of Leigh B. Altman, in 2010 ²¹¹.

Altman was first elected to the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners in 2020 and has been re‑elected in 2024, serving as Vice Chair and chairing several key committees, including the Metropolitan Transit Commission, the Economic Development Committee, and the County Manager Performance Review Committee ²¹¹. In these roles she helps oversee a $2.5 billion county budget that funds public health, mental health, education, social services, parks, and environmental protection, and she works to allocate those resources efficiently for the county’s 1.1 million residents ⁵.

Her legislative record emphasizes transit, economic growth, and community infrastructure. Altman was a leading voice behind the historic transit referendum that approved a $24 billion investment—the largest jobs initiative in county history—aimed at expanding mass‑transit, reducing congestion, and improving access to jobs, schools, and health care ⁵². As chair of the Economic Development Committee she helped attract roughly 4,100 new jobs with an average salary of $111,000 and $438 million in new private investment since November 2024 ⁵. She also supports funding for affordable housing, park and recreation expansion, and fully funding the county’s budget requests for three consecutive years ⁵.

Altman is active in a range of community organizations, including Democratic Women of Mecklenburg County, the Mecklenburg County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, Habitat for Humanity Charlotte, and the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization. She has been honored as one of Charlotte Media Group’s 50 Most Dynamic Women (2021) and appears on Legal Services of Southern Piedmont’s Pro Bono Honor Roll (2011) ¹¹. Altman lives in the Dilworth neighborhood with her husband and three sons and is a member of the local Jewish community ²⁵.

Sources