Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms launches bid for Ga. governor
ATLANTA, Ga. - Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms wants to become the nation’s first Black female governor.
Weeks after hinting at a run for Georgia’s wide-open governorship in 2026, Bottoms made it official Tuesday morning. If successful, Bottoms would achieve what fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams tried and failed to do in Georgia’s last two gubernatorial elections.
Gov. Brian Kemp has been in office for two and can’t seek a third, as per state law, meaning Georgia’s 2026 gubernatorial race is wide open.
“The state is looking for a fighter right now. Someone who will fight against the chaos that’s coming out of Washington. Someone who will provide strong leadership, and that person, I believe, is me,” Bottom said in her campaign announcement.
So far, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is Jason Esteves from Atlanta as the only two announced Democratic candidates in a state that has not elected a Democrat as governor this century.
Bottoms is also the first former Atlanta mayor to ever run for Georgia governor.
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Bottoms served only one term as mayor from 2018 to 2022 when she opted out of a reelection bid. She is the only Atlanta mayor to serve one term since Sam Massell’s loss to Maynard Jackson in 1973.
Bottoms was mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during a federal corruption investigation into her predecessor, Kasim Reed.
During her tenure as mayor, Bottoms and her office established the first-ever Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for the city.
“Also known as One Atlanta, this office is charged to ensure equitable, open and inclusive practices across all city departments and functions,” Bottoms said when the office was established. “This office will also shine light on our forgotten communities and build a bridge towards greater inclusiveness across the entire city.”
Tackling criminal justice reform, Bottoms signed an ordinance banning cash bonds as a requirement to be released from the city’s detention center for those arrested on city ordinance violations.
Bottoms was also mayor when the Super Bowl was in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2019.
Georgia Trend named her the 2020 Georgian of the Year.
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But Bottoms’ four-year tenure as mayor was also full of controversies.
On June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by Atlanta police after a confrontation at a downtown Wendy’s. Brooks failed a field sobriety test and, as officers attempted to arrest him, Brooks struck an officer, grabbed his taser and attempted to flee.
Brooks’ death came only days after George Floyd died in the custody of Minneapolis, Minn., police after being detained, in a case that generated hundreds of protests nationwide.
Then-Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields immediately resigned after Brooks’ death, and the Wendy’s where the incident took place was burned to the ground. Natalie White, believed to be Brooks’ girlfriend, was charged with first-degree arson in connection with the fire.
On July 4, an 8-year-old girl, Secoriea Turner, was killed when the car she was riding in was shot at by demonstrators.
The controversial Atlanta Public Safety Training Center was also initiated under Bottoms’ mayoral leadership. Derisively known to its critics as “Cop City,” the facility has been a flashpoint for violence and demonstrations.
A massive Fulton County Superior Court trial is expected to begin in August for the first of numerous defendants who have been charged in various, violent protests and vandalism at the site.
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Before becoming mayor, Bottoms served on the Atlanta City Council. After she declined to run for mayoral reelection, then-President Joe Biden nominated her as vice chair of civic engagement and voter protection at the Democratic National Convention.
In June 2022, Bottoms ed the Biden istration as senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Bottoms also served as a member of the Biden istration’s export council and as a member of his reelection campaign.
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, a Democrat, filed paperwork to form a committee that would help her hire staff and raise money for a potential governor’s race in early March. But she suspended her bid a few weeks later, citing her husband’s cancer diagnosis.
On the Republican side, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — an unindicted co-conspirator in the now-stalled election interference case against President Donald Trump in Fulton County — and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have been rumored to be potential candidates.
Michael Thurmond, a former DeKalb County CEO, state lawmaker and Georgia labor commissioner, has also been rumored to be considering a gubernatorial run.
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