Gantt, Harvey B. (Harvey Bernard), 1943-

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li> 11/05/1996 NC US Senate Lost 45.92% (-6.73%)</li>
<li> 05/07/1996 NC US Senate- D Primary Won 52.44% (+10.80%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1990 NC US Senate Lost 47.43% (-5.11%)</li>
<li> 06/05/1990 NC US Senate - D Runoff Won 56.89% (+13.78%)</li>
<li> 05/08/1990 NC US Senate - D Primary Won 37.52% (+7.25%)</li>
<li> 11/07/1989 Charlotte, NC Mayor Lost 0.29% (-45.68%)</li>
<li> 11/03/1987 Charlotte, NC Mayor Lost 49.47% (-1.06%)</li>
<li> 11/05/1985 Charlotte, NC Mayor Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 11/08/1983 Charlotte, NC Mayor Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 11/04/1980 NC District 9 Lost 0.00% (-58.59%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

<p>Harvey Bernard Gantt (born January 14, 1943) is an American architect and Democratic politician active in North Carolina. The first African-American student admitted to Clemson University after attending Iowa State University, Gantt graduated with honors in architecture, earned a master's at MIT, and established an architectural practice in Charlotte with a partner.</p>

<p>Gantt entered local politics, where he was elected to the city council, serving from 1974 to 1983. He was elected to two terms as the first black Mayor of Charlotte from 1983 to 1987. In the 1990s, he ran twice for the United States Senate against Jesse Helms, losing both times.</p>

<p>Gantt was born in Charleston, South Carolina to Wilhelminia and Christopher C. Gantt, a shipyard worker. He started to participate in civil rights activism in high school. In 1963, he was the first African American to be admitted to Clemson University in South Carolina. He received a degree in architecture with Honors from Clemson and a Master's degree in City Planning from MIT.</p>

<p>Harvey B. Gantt, architect and politician, was born January 14, 1943 in Charleston, South Carolina to Christopher and Wilhelmenia Gantt. In 1961, Gantt attended Iowa State University. After one year of study, he returned to South Carolina and soon afterwards sued to enter racially segregated Clemson University. On January 16, 1963, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Clemson to admit Gantt who became its first African American student. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Clemson with honors in 1965. In 1970, Gantt earned an M.A. in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p>

<p>During the 1970s, Gantt worked at various architectural firms in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he settled after receiving his degree from MIT. Between 1970 and 1971, he collaborated with civil rights activist Floyd B. McKissick to design Soul City, North Carolina, an experimental interracial community in eastern North Carolina. In 1971, Gantt left the Soul City project, returning to Charlotte to launch an architectural firm with Jeffrey Huberman. Some of the firm’s projects include the construction of the Charlotte Transportation Center, Transamerica Square, and First Ward Recreation Center.</p>

<p>In 1974, Gantt’s political career began with his appointment to the Charlotte City Council to fill the seat vacated by Fred Alexander, the council’s only black member. Gantt served on the council until 1983. While on the council, he encouraged black voting and reformed the process of electing city council members. In 1983, Gantt was nominated as the Democratic candidate for mayor and elected as Charlotte’s first and, to date, only black mayor. He won the election with 52 percent of the overall vote and 36 percent of the white vote and then served a four-year term as mayor. Gantt unsuccessfully ran two U.S. Senatorial campaigns against Republican Senator Jesse Helms in 1990 and 1996. In the close and particularly bitter 1990 contest, Helms’ campaign used shrewdly-crafted TV ads targeting white fears about affirmative action, which Gantt’s supporters claimed were racially motivated. Nonetheless, Gantt received 47 percent of the vote in the race against the nationally-known incumbent senator who had held the seat 17 years.</p>