Atlanta Mayor's Race: Bottoms, Norwood Head To Runoff

ATLANTA, GA — The two front-runners in the crowded race to succeed Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed held their own on Tuesday and will face off in a Dec. 5 runoff election.

City council member Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat and political ally of Reed's, was the top vote-getter on Tuesday, taking more than 27 percent of the vote in a field of 10 active candidates. In second place was at-large council member Mary Norwood, an independent who took nearly 22 percent.

In Georgia, a runoff between the top two candidates is held if no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

Recent polling had consistently shown Bottoms and Norwood at the head of the pack. The race is technically a nonpartisan one, but Bottoms identifies as a Democrat, while Norwood calls herself an independent.

In predominantly Democratic Atlanta — where the one and only Republican mayor was elected in 1877 — other candidates have attempted to cast Norwood as a closet member of the GOP who would undo the accomplishments of the city's well-established Democratic machine.

Norwood, who had lead in most polls until the most recent round saw Bottoms surge, meanwhile, presents herself as an independent-minded leader who has spent the past two decades working for her constituents and their neighborhoods. She narrowly lost to Reed in 2009, falling just over 700 votes short in a runoff.

Bottoms, meanwhile, has been endorsed by Reed, with whom she is a longtime political ally. She has highlighted her work on the council on issues such as pension reform, re-opening city recreation centers and supporting equal pay for women working for the city.

In "The City Too Busy To Hate," there's also a racial component to the race. If elected, Norwood would become Atlanta's first white mayor in more than four decades. Maynard Jackson — whose name is part of the moniker of the city's world's-busiest airport — was elected Atlanta's first black mayor in 1974.

Here are the 10 candidates who were running for mayor of Atlanta:

Peter Aman: Former Atlanta chief operating officer

Rohit Ammanamanchi: Recent Georgia Tech graduate

Keisha Lance Bottoms: Atlanta City Council member, District 11

John Eaves: Former Fulton County Commission chairman

Vincent Fort: Georgia state senator

Kwanza Hall: Atlanta City Council member, District 2

Ceasar Mitchell: Atlanta City Council president

Mary Norwood: Atlanta City Council member, At-Large Post 2

Cathy Woolard: Former Atlanta City Council president

Glen S. Wrightson: consultant and longtime Grant Park resident

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