Keisha Lance Bottoms’ lead is making some Georgia Democrats uneasy
Georgia Democrats are worried their front-runner will miss their chance to win the governor’s mansion this year.
Keisha Lance Bottoms has an enviable resume: former judge, city council member, Atlanta mayor and senior advisor to the White House. He’s leading the popular vote in the primary, bolstered by his high name recognition in the Atlanta metro area.
But one-third of Democratic voters remains undecided, and his most high-profile endorsement comes from outgoing former President Joe Biden extremely unpopular among Americans.
In interviews with more than a half-dozen strategists and officials, it became clear that Georgia Democrats’ cautious tone stemmed from growing concerns about Bottoms’ ability to win the general election. They warn that the most important element of Bottoms’ business experience – leading the state’s largest city – will be a major hurdle in her campaign. His tenure was fraught with turmoil in Atlanta, like other major cities. struggle the onset of the pandemic, social unrest, and increases in crime.
They now worry that Bottoms could scupper their best opportunity to change the governorship for the first time in two decades.
“Keisha obviously faces a very big hurdle because she identifies so strongly with the city of Atlanta,” said Georgia-based Democratic strategist Howard Franklin, who was not involved in the primaries but worked briefly for one of Bottoms’ opponents in 2013. “I don’t think there’s anyone paying attention to this race who doesn’t think Republicans have been prepared to criticize and pile on criticism during the four years he’s been in office.”
Democrats, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to speak publicly about the primary, fear that his record in the general election will be easily caricatured by Republicans, leaving him vulnerable to attacks on issues such as public safety.
“Republicans will eat him for lunch. Republicans are begging us to nominate him,” said a longtime Democratic Party strategist unconnected with the race. “If he’s at the top of the list, the whole ticket loses. If he’s not…we can sweep him. The stakes are that high.”
TaNisha Cameron, a spokeswoman for Bottoms’ campaign, dismissed the concerns as political annoyance and said the Democrat was focused on “standing up to Donald Trump’s candidate for governor.”
“Politicians have underestimated Keisha Lance Bottoms her entire career, and she has consistently proven them wrong by winning elections and defeating hand-picked candidates. Keisha is ahead in the polls in both the primary and general elections because voters like her vision for Georgia’s future and her record of serving the people of Atlanta,” Cameron said in a statement, highlighting how Bottoms attracted nine Fortune 500 companies to Atlanta while in office and how she left the city. $180 million budget surplus.
At the heart of Bottoms’ speech to voters is her promise to expand Medicaid in Georgia and guarantee universal pre-K statewide. In mid-May, just a few weeks after the Supreme Court significantly limited power Bottoms was released under the Voting Rights Act a comprehensive plan To protect access to the ballot in Georgia.
This may be the Democratic Party’s last chance in a generation to seize all the levers of political power in Georgia. Republican Governor Brian Kemp set to redraw As President Donald Trump rehashes personal grievances about the 2020 election, the GOP’s leading gubernatorial candidates are vocal election deniers who continue to cast doubt on Georgia’s voting systems in a state that will be at the center of the 2028 presidential race.
Each of Bottoms’ Democratic primary rivals are running in their own loosely defined lanes: former DeKalb County executive Michael Thurmond as a steady hand with experience in statewide office, former state Sen. Jason Esteves as a next-generation progressive leader and Republican-turned-Democrat Geoff Duncan I am trying to appeal to the voters in the center as a moderate.
However, these three contestants competing for second place found themselves in a deadlock. close to statistical tie It has been in second place for months. So far, they have Bottoms below the 50 percent threshold she would need to win the race outright and advance to the general election.
“It’s unfortunate right now, but we’re missing the light in the state of Georgia compared to what we saw in 2018 with Stacey Abrams or with Warnock,” said Cobb County Democratic Chair Essence Johnson, who remained neutral in the primary. “We don’t have a real, strong light because there are too many differences. This is great, because it shows what democracy is. But there are still too many candidates.”
Some Democrats see no major problem with Bottoms’ potential candidacy; especially as the GOP is in a tougher position, overlooking Trump’s rising approval ratings and struggling to get the message across to voters about cost-of-living concerns and an unpopular war in Iran.
“The Republican Party is pretty much underwater. I think the Republican Party is more underwater than Keisha Lance Bottoms,” said former DeKalb County Democratic Chairman John Jackson. “At the end of the day, he is a competitive general election candidate.”
An early general election poll It shows Bottoms leading the top three Republicans running for governor, but they are all within the poll’s margin of error.
A win for Bottoms would be a historic victory: She would be the first Black female governor elected in the nation’s history and the first Black governor of the Peach State.
The increased attention to Bottoms’ public safety performance did not occur in a vacuum; There were many Black women, including former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and D.C.’s Muriel Bowser. faced extra scrutiny From critics guiding major American cities through the depths of the pandemic and nationwide protests.
Bottoms’ defenders are confident in her standing with voters.
“I’ve seen this kind of handshake, and it’s mostly coming from the very, very inside political circles of Atlanta,” said Kristen Kiefer, the Democratic chair of Houston County in central Georgia. He is unable to support a candidate due to his role in the party.
“From here in Atlanta, we saw someone willing to defy the governor on the mask mandate,” he said. “We saw the city of Atlanta make room for peaceful protests during civil unrest, but we also all remember the night Keisha was on TV, Killer Mike and T.I. told everyone to go home and were ready to shut it down when things got out of hand.”
Still others worry that even with a gap year in their party’s favor, Bottoms could hurt their chances.
“Honestly, most Democrats are nervous about Mayor Bottoms’ campaign, which obviously brings a lot of muscle to the race,” said Andrew Heaton, a Georgia-based Democratic strategist who is not affiliated with the primary. “[Republicans] We will have to find messages against other candidates. “They’ve already written attack ads against Mayor Bottoms.”
Bottoms is declaring her victories at City Hall on the campaign trail. In interviews he has emphasized his administration’s success in building more affordable housing in Atlanta and Allowing pay raises for the city’s law enforcement officers.. Still, his sudden decision not to run for a second term in 2021 after a period of unrest in Atlanta continues to haunt him.
“He needs to answer some questions. He needs to be able to answer these questions well: Why didn’t you run for mayor of Atlanta again? There’s a perception that he’s running away from this job,” said Jackson, whose tenure as DeKalb County Democratic Chairman overlaps with Bottoms’ term as mayor. (Extends from Atlanta, Fulton County to DeKalb.)
Bottoms at the time he said at a press conference He said it was “time to pass the baton to someone else” but did not detail his reasons for giving up the opportunity to stay in office for another four years.
Pressured about his decision A recent interview with Atlanta News FirstBottoms emphasized that she completed her term and did not leave early.
“I served throughout my first term as mayor,” he said. “I have been asked to go to the Biden White House three times and have decided not to do so because I want to serve out the term I was elected to serve.”
The decision came after a four-year term in office dominated by the pandemic. Sharp increase in violent crimes and protests over the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. Bottoms’ response to the city’s social unrest garnered bipartisan praise – especially that fiery words At a news conference with law enforcement, he told protesters to “go home.”
But Democrats and Republicans alike have already recognized his biggest perceived weaknesses ahead of Election Day: a reminder of his tenure will evoke flashbacks. burning buildings and unrest.
Former state senator Esteves attacks Bottoms under discussion upon his death last month. Secoriea Turner, 8 years old, He was shot while getting into a car near protests where Atlanta police fatally shot Rayshard Brooks.
“I did not allow gangs to take over the blocks. We lived through 2020 together. It was the most difficult period in recent history in our country,” Bottoms said. “I made whatever decision I thought was the best decision at the time. But you can’t let a child – any child – die, and you shouldn’t have to wonder what you could have done differently if anything had happened.”
Otherwise, Republicans are stuck in their own impasse. competitive and vindictive primaryThey found time to preview general election attacks on Bottoms. One April adBillionaire health care executive Rick Jackson said the former mayor “abandoned” his city at a crucial moment.
“He let Atlanta burn when the city needed him,” Jackson says of footage of protests in downtown Atlanta.
This initial effort by Republicans to attack Bottoms’ record is what has some Democrats worried about her strength in the general election.
“This is a strategic choice. Sometimes when we make those choices when we vote, some of the choices can be emotional, some of them can be about personal ties,” said State Rep. Michelle Au, who is supporting Duncan in the gubernatorial primary.
“But really the most important thing, in fact the only important thing, is: Can this Democrat win? Because we can knock a Democrat out of the primary and that’s fine, but if they don’t win in November, that’s not going to achieve my goal.”
