President-elect Joe Biden offered Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms a position in his Cabinet, but she did not accept it, according to a statement from Rashad Taylor, Bottoms’ senior adviser.
“Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was honored to have been offered a role in the Cabinet, which she respectfully declined,” Taylor said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Taylor declined to say what position was offered.
“The Mayor’s focus remains on the people of Atlanta and the great state of Georgia,” Taylor said. “Out of respect for the process, and the other candidates under consideration, no additional comment will be forthcoming on this matter at this time.”
On Friday, there was wide speculation on social media based on a tweet from a reporter from another media outlet that Bottoms had been offered the opportunity to be the ambassador to the Bahamas, but turned it down.
“She was never offered an Ambassadorship,” Taylor said.
The Biden Transition Press Office confirmed Taylor’s statement. The office did not respond to a question about which Cabinet post the mayor was asked to fill.
Several prominent Georgia Democrats have reported that Bottoms was in the running to lead the Small Business Administration, a Cabinet level post.
Bottoms was an early and ardent supporter of Biden’s campaign, and for months, speculation has swirled that she would join his administration in some capacity in Washington.
No Georgia Democrat played a more prominent role promoting Biden’s campaign than Bottoms, a first-term mayor who endorsed him in July, campaigned for him in Iowa and worked on his behalf in spin rooms after Democrat debates.
Biden’s campaign vetted her for vice president, a position for which she was often mentioned as a top contender, before the Democratic presidential candidate picked Kamala Harris, a Democratic senator from California and former presidential candidate, for the role.
After Bottoms was passed over for that spot on the presidential ticket, she was also considered a top contender to lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But Biden officially ended any discussion about nominating Bottoms for that position when he named U.S. Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio, to be HUD secretary on Friday.
Bottoms has a year left on her term and has said she plans to run for reelection.
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