Keisha Lance Bottoms

Bottoms was elected mayor in 2017, after receiving a plurality of votes (26%) in a crowded field of candidates on Election Day, then defeating fellow City Council member Mary Norwood in the runoff election.[13][14] She is the 6th African American and the 2nd African American woman to serve as mayor.

Bottoms was investigated during the mayoral election for several lump payments to campaign staff totaling over $180,000 that were not properly reported.[15] In October 2017, she voluntarily returned $25,700 in campaign contributions she had received from PRAD Group, an engineering contractor whose office had been raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation the previous month.[16] On November 4, 2017, she called on the attorney general of Georgia to investigate fake robocalls made in her name, which her campaign said were laden with racist overtones and made primarily in Atlanta's white neighborhoods.[17]

Bottoms declared that Atlanta was a "welcoming city" and "will remain open and welcoming to all" following President Trump's actions regarding refugees in the United States.[18] In 2018, she signed an executive order forbidding the city jail to hold ICE detainees.[19] In July 2019, Bottoms said, "Our city does not support ICE. We don't have a relationship with the U.S. Marshal[s] Service. We closed our detention center to ICE detainees, and we would not pick up people on an immigration violation."[20]

In February 2020, Bottoms released Atlanta's first LGBTQ Affairs report that focused on how various policies, initiatives, and programs can improve the lives of LGBTQ Atlantans.[21][22] In 2018 she had created the city's LGBTQ advisory board, which included entertainer Miss Lawrence and activist Feroza Syed. In December 2020, Bottoms appointed the city's first director of LGBTQ Affairs, Malik Brown, and announced the continued LGBTQ advisory board leadership.[23][24]

Bottoms strongly rebuked Georgia Governor Brian Kemp after he announced the reopening of Georgia businesses in April 2020, saying that it was too early in the COVID-19 pandemic.[25]

Atlanta City Hall in March 2019

When Atlanta experienced riots in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Bottoms condemned those involved,[26][27] but later expressed optimism while speaking to demonstrators at a protest, saying, "There is something better on the other side of this."[28] She also repeatedly condemned Trump for "making it worse" and stoking racial tensions,[28][29] and encouraged people to vote, saying, "If you want change in America, go and register to vote. That is the change we need in this country."[30] In June 2020, many Atlanta Police Department officers went on strike to protest the charges brought against the officers involved in the killing of Rayshard Brooks.[31] Bottoms said that APD morale "is down tenfold".[32]

In early July, as COVID-19 cases escalated in Atlanta, Bottoms issued an executive order rolling back some of its reopening measures from Phase 2 to Phase 1 and requiring everyone to wear a facial covering within city limits. On July 15, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an order suspending all local mask mandates, and on July 16 he filed suit against Bottoms in Superior Court, seeking to invalidate her order and prevent her from talking about it.[33] He did not file similar suits against other cities with mask mandates, such as Savannah and Athens.[34] A hearing scheduled for July 21 was postponed when the judge recused herself.[35]

In June 2019, Bottoms endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[36] After Biden promised during a March 2020 CNN debate to choose a woman as his running mate, Politico reported her as a possible pick.[37] In June, CNN reported that Bottoms was among his top four choices, along with Representative Val Demings and Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.[38] Harris was officially announced as Biden's running mate on August 11, 2020.

Bottoms was named a permanent co-chair of the 2020 Democratic National Convention,[39] at which she also spoke.[40]

After Biden's election, Bottoms was named a candidate for United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.[41] In January 2021, Biden and Harris nominated Bottoms for a four-year term as the Vice Chair of Civic Engagement and Voter Participation at the Democratic National Committee, a role focused on protecting voting rights and expanding voter participation.