Keisha Lance Bottoms

Bottoms was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 18, 1970, to mother Sylvia Robinson and father R&B singer-songwriter Major Lance.[3][4] She was raised in Atlanta.[5]

Bottoms is a graduate of Frederick Douglass High School, Florida A&M University, and Georgia State University College of Law (1994).[6][7]

She was elected as 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 subsequent runoff election.[8][9]

Bottoms was investigated during the mayoral election for several lump payments to campaign staff totaling over $180,000 that were not properly reported according to state law.[10] 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.[11] 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 were made primarily in white neighborhoods of Atlanta.[12]

The Atlanta Mayor declared the city was a "welcoming city" and "will remain open and welcoming to all" following President Trump's actions regarding refugees in the United States.[13] In 2018, Bottoms signed an executive order forbidding the city jail to hold ICE detainees.[14] 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."[15]

In June 2019, Bottoms announced her endorsement of Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.[16] In March 2020, Politico reported her as a possible Vice Presidential pick for Biden.[17]

Bottoms strongly rebuked Georgia Governor Brian Kemp after he announced the reopening of Georgia businesses in April 2020, stating that it was too early in the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

Atlanta City Hall in March 2019

When Atlanta experienced riots in the wake of the death of George Floyd, Bottoms condemned those involved in the riots,[19][20] but later expressed optimism while speaking to demonstrators at a protest in Atlanta saying: "there is something better on the other side of this."[21] She also repeatedly condemned Donald Trump for "making it worse" and stoking racial tensions,[21][22] 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."[23] In June 2020, many officers of the Atlanta Police Department went on strike to protest the charges brought against the officers involved in the killing of Rayshard Brooks.[24] Mayor Bottoms said that APD morale "is down ten-fold".[25]

Mayor Bottoms is the only mayor in Atlanta's history to have served in all three branches of government, serving as a judge and City Councilmember before being sworn in as Mayor.[26]

In October 1994, Keisha Lance married Derek W. Bottoms at the Ben Hill United Methodist Church, in Atlanta. They had met three years earlier during their first year as fellow students at Georgia State University College of Law. After unsuccessful attempts to conceive biologically, they adopted their four children: three sons and a daughter.[27]

Derek Bottoms works as the vice president of employment practices and associate relations for The Home Depot, which is Atlanta-based. 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.[27]

• List of mayors of the 50 largest cities in the United States

• Campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Instagram page