Keisha Lance Bottoms, a confessed Democrat. Critics say she is a Kasim Reed surrogate. Her supporters say she is smart and would make the city proud.
On Nov. 7, Keisha Lance Bottoms finished first among a field of 10 ‘I wanna be the next mayor of Atlanta’ candidates. Attorney Bottoms received 25,347 votes to finish in first place. She spent over a million dollars and criss-crossed over 170 precincts.
If she is elected Mayor, she would be the first female with small children and the second female mayor in Atlanta’s 60-mayor history.
When she tells her backstory, she talks about her grandmother, her mother, her dad and family neighbor women that filled the gap while she attended Atlanta public schools before becoming a lawyer and a judge.
Bottoms served two terms on the City Council from ‘gold coast’ District 11. During her second term as council member, she was appointed Director of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.
She was in the middle of the negotiations that sold the Fulton County stadium to Georgia State University when she decided, but did not announce, she would run for mayor. She is fond of saying she is running so that she can continue the legacy of making Atlanta a city where “impossible dreams take form.”
Because of her background with her family and friends, she believes she can talk to Vine City residents as clearly as the Buckhead denizens.
Bottoms believes her struggles with her dad’s failures and her mother’s return to work have strengthened her to make great decisions as a new mayor.
Bottoms will face the same questions as Norwood when she campaigns over the next four weeks:
• What makes you best qualified?
• Why should I vote for you?
• And finally, will you represent the Atlanta that represents what I believe in?
