AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
Controversial Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she doesn’t want to run for re-election, despite polls showing her easily winning.
In 2017, Bottoms won by 800 votes. But a serious cyberattack during her first year in office, and the subsequent Black Lives Matter riots and protests, convinced her that it was time to go.
There’s been speculation that there are other reasons for her not to run. Rumors of a family crisis and a coming scandal in her administration have observers looking for an alternate reason. But Bottoms led Atlanta during one of the most turbulent times since the Civil War and with the pandemic coming on top of the riots, she may have felt she didn’t have anything left in the tank.
By Ryan Shepard
May 7, 2021
Thursday evening proved to be an exciting night on the timeline. Throughout the night, sports fans were riled up for a Los Angeles showdown between the Clippers and the Lakers. Meanwhile, music fans were excited for new releases from
and
J. Cole. In the midst of all of that, there was a bit of big news coming out of Atlanta, Georgia.
Atlanta Mayor
has announced that she will not run for a second term. In a brief letter posted online, she said that her decision was not influenced by fundraising or fear of competition. Rather, she explained that this was a joint decision with her husband,
Democratic National Convention via AP
Eight months ago, Keisha Lance Bottoms looked like a rising star in the Democratic Party. She landed a spot on the virtual national-convention stage, and the Atlanta mayor even got some buzz as a potential running mate for Joe Biden. Last night, however, news leaked out that Bottoms won’t run for a second term, after having her term plagued by mishandling of a police shooting and skyrocketing crime:
In a stunning announcement Thursday night, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told supporters that she will not run for reelection this year.
Bottoms announced she will not seek a second term as Atlanta’s 60th mayor during a private call with friends, staffers and allies, according to two people who were on the call and several others who were told about it.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says she won t seek a second term in surprise announcement theglobeandmail.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theglobeandmail.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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ATLANTA Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Friday she has wrestled since her first year in office with whether to seek a second term, and this week she made a final decision to step aside even as she insisted she doesn’t know what she’ll do next.
“Leadership sometimes is about passing off the baton,” Bottoms told reporters at City Hall, the morning after releasing an election-year surprise public letter and video announcing that she wouldn’t run for re-election this year.
It was a stunning announcement for the 51-year-old politician who is just the second Black woman to lead Atlanta and who less than a year ago was among the women President Joe Biden considered as a possible running mate.