‘Abundantly Clear’: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Won’t Seek Reelection

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Thursday that she will not be seeking reelection in 2021.

In a press conference Friday morning, Bottoms told the crowd that it is time to “pass the baton to someone else.”

“This has been my highest honor to serve as mayor of this city,” she said. “My family moved to the west side of Atlanta and they found community and they found purpose and they found a way to make the lives of their children better and I stand here on their shoulders.”

https://t.co/4yHFpvnVre pic.twitter.com/b7IJEIyojq

— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) May 7, 2021

In a letter, Bottoms outlined some of the successes of her administration over the last four years, including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, handling a cyber attack, and creating an affordable housing trust fund.

During Bottom’s term, the city saw numerous protests and riots in the wake of the George Floyd shooting and a 58% rise in homicides in 2020. Bottoms also faced a serious challenger in Felicia Moore, the president of Atlanta’s city council, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and 2014 Gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter, according to Fox News. (RELATED: It’s Over: Atlanta Mayor Says Protestors Should Clear Out After 8-Year-Old Girl Shot And Killed)

Bottoms says she is not stepping down because of her reelection prospects, according to FOX News. In her letter, she says that she had the single most successful fundraiser of any Mayor in Atlanta and that polls show that she would win the election.

For the remainder of her term Bottoms said that she “will make every decision, keeping what is best for our communities top of mind, and will continue to work diligently to improve the lives of those in our city.”