The Thanksgiving holiday hasn’t stopped Andre Dickens and Felicia Moore from making headlines. While Atlanta families were cutting turkey, ham, and passing the macaroni and cheese, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced she’ll endorse Dickens in the Atlanta mayoral runoff election. Willis said in an interview, that his policies are in lock-step with her plans as Fulton’s top prosecutor.
Additionally, Willis said Dickens understands that police officers have to be given due process so that we never have this issue of losing morale and losing officers because officers are not treated fairly. Officers are like every other citizen in this community. However, she says Dickens will hold officers accountable if they run afoul of the law and policy.
Friday morning, Moore held a press conference at the Hillside Chapel & Truth Center on 2450 Cascade Rd in Atlanta asking Dickens to cut out what she refers to as “divisive campaign tactics.” On Nov. 23, Bill White, the CEO of the Buckhead City movement said on social media, “Isaac Hayes III incited his followers to attack us. Well they listened bc one of his followers came with homophobic nasty racist comments, and threats of deadly violence on us.”
Hayes has steadfastly supported Andre Dickens candidacy for mayor since the runoff period began.
Meanwhile, White says “Buckhead is dying on the vine. And a dead Buckhead is the end of ATL.” The Buckhead City movement has zero confidence in either mayoral candidate.
Mary Norwood hires election monitoring company ahead of Nov. 30 election
Friday morning, it was announced Mary Norwood, an Atlanta City Councilmember representing District 8, which contains Buckhead, has hired an election monitoring company which will serve as a whistleblower for election fraud. Moore calls Norwood’s claim part of a “despicable” attempt to divide Black voters that shows Dickens is “not fit to run this city.” Norwood says she is not working for either candidate and no one asked her to do so.
Norwood has served in the Atlanta City Council alongside both Dickens and Moore. Norwood and Moore worked together on a successful effort to put the City of Atlanta’s financial activity online for transparency on May 16, 2017. Norwood currently is the chairwoman of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods (BCN), a coalition of local neighborhood associations.
Polls indicate tight race heading to Nov. 30 finish line
Lastly, two different polls tell two different stories in the Mayoral race. According to an 11Alive SurveyUSA Poll, Moore has a small advantage among all likely voters, 46% to 40%. Among the 59% who said they are certain to vote on or before Nov 30, Moore’s lead is just 5 points.
According to the same poll, another 13% said they will probably vote, and among those voters, Dickens has the nominal lead, 35% to 30%. The poll indicates if Dickens can motivate enough “probable” voters to become “certain” voters, he may emerge as Atlanta’s 61st mayor. As past mayoral elections do indicate, turnout will be the key.
So, the poll results show that either candidate could land on top.
Meanwhile, a poll commissioned by WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Nov. 11-19 by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, showed Dickens at 42.6% and Moore at 37.2%. Nearly, 20% of respondents say they are undecided.
According to the poll results, Dickens led among women, Democrats and Black voters, while Moore was ahead with white voters, Republicans and people ages 18-29. About 58% of respondents said they have a favorable impression of Moore, while 67% gave Dickens high marks.
