(Georgia Recorder) — Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is announcing Tuesday that she is entering the race for Georgia governor in 2026, the second Democrat to declare a run for the state’s top job.
Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022, but after a controversial first term decided against seeking reelection. Bottoms would later become a senior advisor to former President Joe Biden.
Bottoms said Monday that she was prepared for the role of governor after achieving historic pay raises for Atlanta police officers and firefighters and ensuring the vitality of small businesses, especially during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
During her tenure as mayor, Bottoms faced several crises, from the pandemic to a citywide cyberattack.
She came under withering attack for her handling of protests after the murder of George Floyd in the spring of 2020, especially for allowing an armed encampment at a burned down Atlanta Wendy’s that didn’t end until a girl was murdered while riding in a car near the scorched restaurant.
One of the most important lessons Bottoms said she learned was the importance of being prepared for uncertain times.
“When I left as mayor of Atlanta, even in the midst of this historic economic downturn, we still had $180 million in our rainy day fund,” she said. “We didn’t lay off a single employee. We even gave our sanitation workers $500 additional pay each month, hazard pay during COVID. We didn’t raise taxes, we didn’t furlough employees, and it was because we planned ahead and we had a north star to always be able to deliver for our communities.”
Georgia’s 2026 election for governor is wide open with GOP Gov. Brian Kemp term-limited. A large number of candidates are expected to run and several have already thrown their hats into the ring.
Republican candidates who have entered the governor’s race or are considering running for governor include Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who announced his candidacy in November. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is expected to run against Carr for the chance to oppose the Democratic nominee in November 2026.
Bottoms is the second Democratic candidate with name recognition to enter the race for governor. In May, Atlanta state Sen. Jason Esteves launched his campaign.
Meg Scribner, Esteves’ campaign manager, responded to Bottoms’ announcement by saying they are ready to take on any new challenger.
“Jason represents a new wave of Democratic leadership, and that is already energizing voters in Georgia,” Scribner said. “As a former teacher, (Atlanta) school board chair, small business owner, and state senator, Georgians can count on Jason to stay in the fight and build a winning coalition that will flip the Governor’s seat in 2026.”
Bottoms says her campaign will prioritize issues that are important outside of Atlanta. She said if she’s elected governor, she’ll push to expand Medicaid to cover health insurance for about 300,000 people, support small businesses and eliminate teacher income taxes.
“We all want safe and thriving communities,” Bottoms said. “We all want economic stability. We all want job opportunities. We all want access to quality public education. We all want access to quality health care.”
Bottoms said she’s ready to take criticism for not running for a second term leading the city of Atlanta.
She says points in her favor are the way she stood up to Trump in his first term during her first three years as Atlanta mayor.
Even though they disagree politically, Bottoms says she’s willing to work with any president.
“We can work with any administration that’s trying to do right by our communities, then I’ll be a leader that works alongside people, even if we don’t have the same political affiliation,” Bottoms said. “But to the extent that policies are coming out of the White House like they are now, that’s harming our communities, then I’m going to fight to the bitter end to make sure that Georgia has what it needs to thrive.”
Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University, said it’s important for Bottoms to have a strong turnout of Black voters in the primary and general election as well as winning support outside of Atlanta.
“She has the advantage of having led George’s largest city,” Gillespie said. “She has the advantage of having some support from Washington D.C. Democratic figures.
“I think some of the disadvantages are the fact that this would be her first campaign running for statewide office. It’s not that she’s a novice or an inexperienced candidate, but I’ve done research that would suggest that she would be better served if she held statewide office before the fact,” Gillespie said.
“For somebody like Sen. Esteves, he can test the water, but if it doesn’t look like it’s going well, he would have time to change if he needed to and return to the Senate,” Gillespie said.
According to Gillespie, the looming question among Democratic candidates is whether Stacey Abrams will make a third run after the governor’s mansion after narrowly losing to Kemp in 2018 and then more decisively in 2022.
Democrats need to resolve organizational problems to have a chance to beat a Republican for governor, Gillespie said.
“They’re all going to tout their own achievements and their own experience,” Gillespie said. “I think the larger question for Democrats is who is best positioned to run against whoever the Republicans end up nominating for office.”
In 2020, Gillespie sees a Republican opponent trying to pigeonhole Bottoms as a “woke’” candidate, challenged for her stances on COVID policies and handling of protests.
“I expect that somebody might try to use that against her, both in the primary and in the general election,” she said. “And then there’s also the (issue of) having been out of the political spotlight for, you know, a long period of time.”
