As candidates line up to run for Atlanta Mayor in 2017, races further down the ballot are taking shape. Chief among those will be the battle for Atlanta City Council President – the role being vacated by Caesar Mitchell, one of the favorites to replace current Mayor Kasim Reed.
Already two candidates have officially filed paperwork stating their intention to run for the seat: City Councilmen C.T. Martin and Alex Wan. A third candidate, Councilwoman Felicia Moore, is expected join her colleagues in coming months.
C.T. Martin is the longest tenured member of the City Council, having served his West-Atlanta district since 1990. It’s not the first time the legislator has been rumored to throw his hat into the ring for a leadership role, but still some observers were surprised to see the city government veteran just now shoot for higher office after 25 years on the job. Martin has generally been a Reed ally in the City Council, and securing the popular Mayor’s support could give him a leg up in what promises to be a tight race.
City Councilman Alex Wan, from the other side of town, (his district consists of Virginia-Highlands and several other Eastside neighborhoods) filed his own paperwork shortly after Martin last week. The young(er) Wan brings a unique background to the race as the first Asian-American member of the Atlanta City Council as well as its first openly gay member. He will certainly have his own diverse brand of support to contrast from Martin’s more traditional background.
Moore, the other presumed candidate in the race, will bring a third perspective into the mix. The longtime City Councilwomen from Northwest Atlanta’s District 9 has been a vocal critic of Mayor Reed throughout his tenure at City Hall, pushing for more access to city records and spending data that the Mayor has been unwilling to give up. She calls it a push for transparency, Reed a “naked power grab“. Either way, her impending candidacy will surely attempt to coalesce those factions opposed to Reed and Mitchell, his close ally on the council who will try to follow in Reed’s footsteps come 2017.
City Hall may not be the Gold Dome, but the level of political intrigue figures to be just as high across the street as Atlanta’s top legislators gear up to battle for the capital’s top spots.
