Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Democratic Atlanta mayor who served in former President Joe Biden’s administration, announced her bid for governor of Georgia.
Bottoms announced her run on social media Tuesday morning, criticizing President Donald Trump and his second administration.
“These days, most Georgians are right to wonder: Who’s looking out for us? Donald Trump is a disaster for our economy and our country. From his failure to address rising prices to giving an unelected billionaire the power to cut Medicare and Social Security — it’s one terrible thing after another,” Bottoms said in the video.
She also criticized the state’s decision under successive Republican governors not to expand Medicaid. Bottoms noted that expanding Medicaid would be her “ top priority” if elected.
She also pointed to the more than 2,000 people fired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based in Atlanta. She said Trump gave “an unelected billionaire the power to cut Medicare and Social Security,” in reference to Elon Musk’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
Bottoms was the mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under Biden, later becoming a senior adviser.
If elected, Bottoms would be the first Democratic governor of Georgia in over 20 years. Other Democratic contenders include state Sen. Jason Esteves.
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On the Republican side of the race, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, who is closely aligned with Trump, announced his bid last year. Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) is term-limited.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rated the state’s governor race as a “toss-up.”