Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Enters Georgia Gubernatorial Race

Strategic Insights -

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who gained national prominence for her clashes with President Donald Trump and her subsequent rise to President Joe Biden's inner circle, has entered the race for Georgia governor. Bottoms, a Democrat, vowed to bring battle-tested leadership to the Capitol and touted her ability to find consensus with longtime Republican foes, while also insisting that anxious Georgia voters want leaders willing to aggressively combat Trump and his closest allies. Bottoms aims to snap a Democratic losing streak for Georgia's top office that stretches back to 1998 and has a platform that includes expanding Medicaid and slashing the state income tax for Georgia teachers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Bottoms starts her comeback with built-in advantages, including high name recognition in metro Atlanta and national praise for her forceful plea to protesters to go home after demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd descended into lawlessness.
  • She enjoys deep support among Black women, the party's most reliable primary bloc, and is still closely tied to Biden, who once considered her a vice-presidential running mate and offered her a Cabinet post shortly before he took office.
  • Bottoms has a history of deep support among Black women, who make up a crucial block in Georgia's Democratic primary electorate.
  • She has a willingness to brawl, taking a swipe at Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a likely GOP contender and Trump ally, during an interview.
  • Her tenure as mayor was marked by struggles to contain a surge in violent crime and feuds with Kemp over pandemic restrictions, but she pointed to her work expanding affordable housing and guiding the city through the twin crises of the pandemic and racial justice protests as highlights of her record.
  • Bottoms said she had no qualms about becoming the first mayor in modern Atlanta history to forgo a bid for a second term, citing the season of her life and the opportunity for continued public service.
  • Republicans have previewed a line of attack focusing on rising crime rates during her first term, with a spokesperson for the Republican Governors Association calling Bottoms a risk Georgians cannot afford.

Statistics:

  • 1998: The last year a Democrat won the Georgia governor's office.
  • May 2021: The month Bottoms announced she would not seek a second term as Atlanta mayor.
  • 2026: The year of the upcoming gubernatorial election.
  • 12: The number of candidates in the 2017 primary for Atlanta mayor, which Bottoms narrowly won.
  • 2017: The year Bottoms took office as Atlanta mayor, amid a federal corruption probe into former Mayor Kasim Reed's administration.
  • 2022: The year Trump attempted to oust Bottoms as a Biden appointee.

Sources:

  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • The White House
  • CNN
  • Biden administration
  • Republican Governors Association
  • The Washington Post
  • The New York Times