Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is preparing to run for Georgia governor

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that there is a ‘fierce urgency of now,’” Bottoms said. “For the people of Georgia, that includes having leaders who aren’t blindly following Trump off a moral and economic cliff but focused on the pressing needs in our communities.”

Other prominent Democrats may also enter the race. State Sen. Jason Esteves and former DeKalb chief executive Michael Thurmond have taken steps toward a possible run. Jason Carter, the party’s 2014 gubernatorial nominee, is also in the mix. And Stacey Abrams hasn’t ruled out a third campaign.

On the Republican side, Attorney General Chris Carr entered the race in November. And Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a close Trump ally, is expected to soon announce his campaign to succeed a term-limited Kemp.

Bottoms has high name recognition in metro Atlanta, where the bulk of the state’s Democratic electorate lives. And she won office with the resounding support from Black women, the most important and loyal constituency in her party.

But Bottoms would have to explain her surprise decision in 2021 not to seek a second term as mayor, which came 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 helped fuel a failed breakaway movement to split the city into two.

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 to City Hall after a long-running federal bribery investigation.

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 Trump and Kemp over coronavirus restrictions and public safety measures.

Bottoms, who has already hired staffers and launched a PAC teasing her candidacy, has previously told the AJC she would campaign to expand the Medicaid program, boost the state’s health care system and improve 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.”