Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms (born January 18, 1970)[1] is an American politician and lawyer who is the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. She was elected mayor in 2017. Before becoming mayor, she was a member of the Atlanta City Council, representing part of Southwest Atlanta.[2]

Keisha Lance Bottoms
Bottoms in 2019
60th Mayor of Atlanta
Assumed office
January 2, 2018
Preceded byKasim Reed
Member of the Atlanta City Council
from the 11th district
In office
January 4, 2010 – January 2, 2018
Preceded byJim Maddox
Succeeded byMarci Collier Overstreet
Personal details
Born
Keisha Lance

(1970-01-18) January 18, 1970
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Derek Bottoms
Children4
ParentsMajor Lance
Sylvia Robinson
EducationFlorida A&M University (BA)
Georgia State University (JD)
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and education

Bottoms was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 18, 1970, to Sylvia Robinson and R&B singer-songwriter Major Lance.[3][4] She was raised in Atlanta[5] and is a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School.[6]

She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida A&M University, concentrating in broadcast journalism.[7][8] She earned a law degree from Georgia State University College of Law in 1994. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.[6][8][9]

Early career

Bottoms was a prosecutor and also represented children in juvenile court.[8][10] In 2002, she became a magistrate judge in Atlanta.[11][10] In 2008, she ran unsuccessfully for a judgeship on the Fulton Superior Court.[7][10][12]

She was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 2009 and 2013, representing District 11 in southwest Atlanta. She served until 2017. She was concurrently the executive director of Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority starting in 2015.[8]

Mayor of Atlanta

Election

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]

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]

Tenure

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 June 2019, Bottoms endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[21] In March 2020, Politico reported her as a possible vice-presidential pick for Biden.[22] In June, CNN reported that she was among his top four choices, along with Representative Val Demings and Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.[23] Kamala Harris was officially announced as Biden's running mate on August 11, 2020.

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.[24]

Atlanta City Hall in March 2019

When Atlanta experienced riots in the wake of the death of George Floyd, Bottoms condemned those involved,[25][26] but later expressed optimism while speaking to demonstrators at a protest, saying, "there is something better on the other side of this."[27] She also repeatedly condemned Trump for "making it worse" and stoking racial tensions,[27][28] 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."[29] 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.[30] Bottoms said that APD morale "is down tenfold".[31]

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.[32] He did not file similar suits against other cities with mask mandates, such as Savannah and Athens.[33] A hearing scheduled for July 21 was postponed when the judge recused herself.[34]

Personal life

Bottoms's family history can be traced back five generations to Shepherd Peek, a freedman from plantation near Crawfordville, who may have served in the Georgia state legislature during Reconstruction.[7][10]

In October 1994, Keisha Lance married Derek W. Bottoms at Atlanta's Ben Hill United Methodist Church. They had met three years earlier during their first year as students at Georgia State University College of Law. After unsuccessful attempts to conceive biologically, they adopted their four children.[35]

Derek Bottoms is the vice president of employment practices and associate relations for The Home Depot. He joined the company in 2000, after spending over five years at the law firm Powell Goldstein. He has served as a board member for several foundations.[35]

On July 6, 2020, Bottoms announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19.[36]

See also

References
  1. "Atlanta City Council - Regular Meeting - Jan 19, 2016" (PDF). atlantaga.gov. p. 73. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  2. "Class Actions". College of Law. April 8, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  3. "Keisha Lance Bottoms". Keisha Lance Bottoms. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  4. Jim Galloway, Political Insider. "Politics, parents and candidates with sabotaged childhoods". ajc. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  5. Shah, Khushbu (May 17, 2020). "Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on the Arbery killing and Biden's vice-president pick". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  6. "Keisha Lance Bottoms for Atlanta Mayor". Keisha Lance Bottoms. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  7. Goldberg, Melissa (June 9, 2020). "Everything You Need to Know About Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  8. "Who is Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms?". ajc. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  9. "Mayor Bottoms (J.D. '94): 'Georgia State Helped Create a Work Ethic In Me'". Georgia State University News Hub. Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia State University. March 1, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  10. "2020 Georgian of the Year: Keisha Lance Bottoms". Georgia Trend Magazine. January 1, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  11. Wheatley, Thomas (May 23, 2019). "Keisha's no Kasim: Inside Bottoms's very different City Hall". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  12. Wheatley, Thomas (May 23, 2019). "Keisha's no Kasim: Inside Bottoms's very different City Hall". Atlanta Magazine. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  13. "Bottoms, Norwood in runoff for Atlanta mayor". WAGA Fox 5. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  14. Gehlbach, Steve (December 21, 2017). "Mary Norwood concedes defeat in Atlanta mayoral race". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  15. Deere, Stephen; Klepal, Dan. "Atlanta mayoral race: Bottoms campaign disclosures under scrutiny". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  16. "Atlanta mayoral candidate to return donation from embattled contractor". myajc. October 2, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  17. "Lance Bottoms calls on Attorney General to investigate fake robocalls days ahead of election". WXIA. November 4, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  18. "As Trump enacts ban on refugees, Atlanta doubles down as a 'welcoming city'". SaportaReport. January 30, 2017.
  19. "Mayor signs executive order to remove ICE detainees from city jail". WSB-TV. September 6, 2018.
  20. "U.S. Cities Prepare for Planned ICE Raids". NPR. July 13, 2019.
  21. Branigin, Anne (June 29, 2019). "Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Endorses Joe Biden for President". The Root. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
  22. "Biden squeezed on his most critical decision: His VP pick". Politico. March 17, 2020.
  23. Zeleny, Jeff; Merica, Dan; Lee, MJ (June 26, 2020). "Nation's reckoning on race looms large over final month of Biden's running mate search". CNN. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  24. Rahman, Khaleda (April 28, 2020). "Atlanta mayor rebukes Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for opening businesses: 'We can't sit by...while people die'". Newsweek. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  25. "Mayor, police chief denounce 'anarchists' and 'terrorists' who destroyed city; curfew begins at 9 p.m." Atlanta INtown. May 30, 2020.
  26. Seipel, Brooke (May 29, 2020). "Atlanta mayor condemns violent protests in fiery speech: 'If you love this city go home'". The Hill. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  27. Cole, Devan (June 5, 2020). "Atlanta mayor to George Floyd protesters: 'There is something better on the other side of this'". CNN. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  28. Duster, Chandelis. "Atlanta mayor on Trump: He should just stop talking". CNN. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  29. Cohen, Seth. "Atlanta's Keisha Lance Bottoms Is the Mayor and Mother America Needs Right Now". Forbes. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
  30. Brumback, Kate (June 18, 2020). "Atlanta police call out sick to protest charges in shooting". AP News. Archived from the original on June 18, 2020.
  31. "Atlanta police department morale "is down ten-fold," Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says". CBS News. June 18, 2020.
  32. Stracqualursi, Veronica; LeBlanc, Paul (July 16, 2020). "Georgia governor sues Atlanta mayor over city's mask mandate". CNN. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  33. Carlisle, Madeleine (July 18, 2020). "Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Sued to Block Atlanta's Face Mask Ordinance. Here's What to Know". Time Magazine. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  34. "Judge recuses herself, hearing canceled in Kemp v. Bottoms Atlanta mask mandate lawsuit". Associated Press. 11 Alive. July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  35. Godwin, Becca J. G. "Who is Derek Bottoms, husband of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms?". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
  36. Carissimo, Justin (July 7, 2020). "Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tests positive for coronavirus". CBS News. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by
Kasim Reed		 Mayor of Atlanta
2018–present		 Incumbent
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