Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is positioning herself to run for governor of Georgia — a state that has change into a pivotal battleground in latest elections.
Bottoms, who served in former President Joe Biden’s administration, submitted the paperwork Monday to boost marketing campaign donations for subsequent yr’s race. She issued a press release making it clear that she was not but able to announce her candidacy.
“I’m honored and humbled by the encouragement I’ve acquired as I’ve thought of working for Governor. I’m taking an essential administrative step on this journey by submitting vital paperwork to determine a Marketing campaign Committee,” she mentioned. “I look ahead to making an announcement within the coming weeks.”
Bottoms would instantly change into probably the most high-profile Democrat working within the race. Jason Esteves, a state senator, announced his candidacy for the post final week.
Two different outstanding figures have already opted out of the race. 4-term Democratic lawmaker Rep. Lucy McBath suspended her run for governor in March after her husband was recognized with most cancers. Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and Democrats’ nominee for governor in 2014, has also said he isn’t running.
The state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, is term-limited, and Cook Political Report lists the open Georgia race as a tossup. If Bottoms wins, Georgia could be led by a Democrat for the primary time since 2003. And she or he’d change into the nation’s first-ever Black lady governor.
Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and was one of many girls into consideration to change into Biden’s working mate within the 2020 election. In June 2022, Biden tapped her to supervise the White Home Workplace of Public Engagement. Her 4 years as mayor had been marred by a number of crises, from the Covid-19 pandemic to a city-wide cyberattack throughout her first three months in workplace.
