Georgia residents will see a familiar face deplaning from Air Force One alongside President Joe Biden in Atlanta on Tuesday.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is flying into the city aboard the same aircraft as Biden, according to one of Bottoms’ senior advisors.
Bottoms is not expected to speak alongside president Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris when they arrive in Atlanta to deliver speeches encouraging Congress to pass federal voting laws. But Bottoms’ appearance with them comes as some Georgia Democrats and voting rights groups voice frustration with the Biden-Harris visit.
The groups last week released a joint statement calling the trip “insufficient and unwelcome” if the two don’t already have a veto-proof majority to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Others questioned why there’s no fundraising event for Georgia candidates tied to the visit, as previously reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Biden raised more than $500,000 for Bottoms last year, but the donors were refunded after she ended her reelection bid.
Bottoms is a Biden confidant after her early and unwavering support for his presidential campaign. She was considered as his potential running mate and she later declined a job offer in his administration.
She ultimately accepted Biden’s nomination for vice chair of civic engagement and voter protection with the Democratic National Committee. Bottoms told the AJC last month that it’s an unpaid job, calling it one of her “labors of love” after her term as mayor.
