Atlanta City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday threw her hat in the ring to become the city’s next mayor.
Bottoms, executive director of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, said she is running because she wants Georgia’s capitol to have “safe communities, easy access to transit, opportunity for jobs and economic grown and thriving schools.
“As your mayor, I will listen intently and work tirelessly to make Atlanta a city that meets and enhances communities at their point of need,” Bottoms said in a release.
Bottoms adds her name to a crowded list of candidates seeking to replace Mayor Kasim Reed, who ends his second term in January 2018.
People who have declared their intentions or are rumored to be interested include City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, former City Councilwoman Cathy Woolard and former city of Atlanta Chief operating officer Peter Aman.
Others include Fulton County Commissioner and former Atlanta City Councilman Robb Pitts and perennial mayoral candidates Elbert Bartell and Debra Ann Hampton.
Reed hinted as early as August that Bottoms might be a candidate to follow him into the city's highest office. In announcement about the city's plan to sell Turner Field to Georgia State University, he teased Scott Taylor, president of a firm that will develop the area, to run for mayor.
“Scott Taylor for mayor,” Reed said laughing. “…After the next election. I don’t want to upset Ceasar and Keisha.”
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