Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announces she will not seek reelection
Atlanta’s Democrat Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told reporters late Thursday that she will not be seeking reelection, but will not provide a reason as to why.
In a series of tweets, NPR reporter Stephen Fowler stated that Bottoms did not specify a reason for departing from office, but hinted to clues as to why she wants to leave the position. Bottoms said the last years have not been not what she wanted for the city and that she is making this decision from a position of strength and not weakness.
Bottoms says there's no truth to rumors about her/her husband going to Walgreens (oops @ media sources pushing anonymous claims), and says the decision is "made from a position of strength and not weakness."
— stephen fowler (@stphnfwlr) May 7, 2021
She raised $500k+ with Biden, says she had great poll numbers, etc. pic.twitter.com/yXKeU2b763
Bottoms suggested that it wasn’t just “one thing” that caused her decision, noting that she had been contemplating it for some time. Fowler’s takeaway was that Bottom’s last few years on the job were stressful and unmet expectations were too much for her to handle.
Bottom line takeaway from this presser: Being mayor of one of the most powerful cities during one of the most volatile periods in recent history takes a toll.
— stephen fowler (@stphnfwlr) May 7, 2021
This job wasn't what she thought it would be, and she's not interested in continuing down that path in a tough election. pic.twitter.com/o9E5tuPoN5
Bottoms has been Atlanta’s mayor since 2017 and is the second black woman to be mayor. Her tenure as mayor of Atlanta wasn’t plain sailing, as the city was hit with a massive cyberattack in 2018 taking the city’s systems down. This was followed by the coronavirus pandemic and Black Lives Matter riots following the death of Geoge Floyd.
During the riots throughout much of 2020, Bottoms was against the rioters, blaming them for the damage and death plaguing the city and highlighting that the police were actually innocent. Despite this, the city has plunged further into chaos with the homicide rate shooting up 140 per cent.
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