Add former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to the list of prominent Georgia Democrats openly considering a run to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who cannot seek a third term in office.
She told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday she’s seriously weighing a 2026 campaign for Georgia’s top job after serving three years as an adviser to President Joe Biden.
“I said from the moment I left the mayor’s office that I was not saying goodbye to politics,” she said in an interview. “I was saying goodbye to that season, and I’m keeping all of my options open. And there are a lot of options in 2026.”
Her interest in the race, earlier reported by Channel 2 Action News, would jolt a wide-open contest. She’s a well-known figure in metro Atlanta, where the bulk of the state’s Democratic electorate lives. And she won her office with the resounding support from Black women, the most important and loyal constituency in her party.
But Bottoms would also have to reconcile her surprise decision in 2021 she wouldn’t seek a second term as mayor. The shocking announcement came months after her advisers said she turned down a Cabinet post — and weeks after Biden helped launch her reelection bid. She also faced blistering pushback from some Atlantans during her tenure for a surge of violent crime that fueled failed breakaway movement to split the city into two.
The Republican side of the ticket got off to an early start, with Attorney General Chris Carr launching his campaign just weeks after the November 2024 election. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is expected to enter the race later this year, and other Republicans could join the fray.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
But no Democratic front-runner has emerged. U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, former DeKalb County Chief Executive Michael Thurmond and two-time gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams are among other possible contenders.
A former city councilwoman, Bottoms won a crowded 11-candidate race for Atlanta’s top job in 2017 with the promise of bringing more transparency and stricter ethics mandates after a long-running federal bribery investigation rocked City Hall.
Bottoms heralded her administration’s work on social justice and affordable housing issues. Months into her term, City Hall was hit with a massive cyberattack, all while a corruption probe of members of former Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration widened.
Her term was quickly reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread protests over racism and police brutality, and she feuded bitterly with then-President Donald Trump and Kemp over coronavirus restrictions and public safety measures.
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal Constitution
“When I became mayor, I had absolutely no interest in getting into fights with the governor or with the president of the United States,” Bottoms told the “Politically Georgia” podcast this week. “But there are times when you emerge as a leader, when you have to stand firm in your convictions, and you can’t be afraid to go at someone head-on when they are not doing right by the people.”
While she described a more cordial relationship with Kemp, her connection with Trump has only deteriorated. This week, the president “fired” Bottoms and three other Biden appointees — even though she submitted her letter of resignation days earlier. She said she sees it as a “badge of honor.”
“What’s the line — is this deja vu all over again?” Bottoms quipped. “This is the Donald Trump that I knew from my time as mayor. He is disruptive, he is not focused and he picks petty fights.”
Should she mount a campaign, Bottoms told the AJC she would center it on pledges to enact a full-scale expansion of the Medicaid program, boost the state’s health care system and improve Georgia’s public education. “There’s so much more that can be done to get us on solid footing,” she said. “There’s so many things that we do well in this state, there’s no reason that we can’t do better in these areas.”
