Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Will Not Seek Reelection

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced on Thursday evening that she would not seek reelection this year. She published an open letter to her city’s residents.

She wrote, “As Derek and I have given thoughtful prayer and consideration to the season now before us, it is with deep emotions that I hold my head high, and choose not to seek another term as Mayor.”

Bottoms declared that she can “absolutely” win again. She added, “Multiple credible polls have shown that if the race for Mayor were held today, I would be re-elected.”

In her letter, she praised her administration for implementing “minority and women participation” and “minority equity ownership” requirements in a local “redevelopment” project. “A social justice movement took over our streets” across the past year, she wrote.

Bottoms promised to “[work] to advance the agenda of the Biden-Harris Administration.”

The past year was Atlanta’s deadliest year in over decades in terms of total homicides. The city had a 46 percent increase in homicides in late 2020 compared to the same timeframe in 2019, according to the city’s police. In March, Bottoms blamed the coronavirus outbreak for rising homicides during her tenure. She said, “Our court system effectively shut down, people lost jobs, loved ones died, and our crime began to spike.”

Bottoms previously blamed the police killing of Ahmaud Arbery on President Donald Trump’s “rhetoric.”

Bottoms was interviewed many times by left-wing and partisan Democrat news media outlets across last year’s election season to opine on the presidential race and national political issues. She was being considered by President Joe Biden’s campaign as either a potential running mate or for a cabinet role.

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