In the aftermath of the 11-candidate Atlanta mayoral battle royale that saw Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood advance to a December 5th runoff, the 9 losing candidates have begun to pick up the pieces and take sides in what figures to be a hotly contested final stretch.
With a majority of the votes cast on November 6th now undecided, endorsements from the losing candidates figure to play a big role in who comes out on top in the runoff.
The first domino to fall was popular Atlanta city councilman Kwanza Hall, who on Tuesday announced his support of Lance Bottoms at a press conference held at John Wesley Dobbs Plaza in downtown Atlanta. Hall said that he plans on hitting the campaign trail in coming weeks, saying that he would be “putting the full force of our family and our teams behind Keisha Lance Bottoms to be the mayor of our city.”
Many expect Vincent Fort, a former state Senator who ran a progressive campaign backed by the likes of Bernie Sanders, to throw his support behind Lance Bottoms as well. He met with the candidate on Tuesday afternoon, though he has yet to make a public statement o the runoff.
Conversely, many expect Peter Aman, the former City of Atlanta COO who finished fourth in the first portion of the race, to endorse Mary Norwood sometime later this month. Aman has gotten into it with current mayor Kasim Reed over the course of the election and has no love for Lance Bottoms as Reed’s hand-picked replacement.
Supporters of Hall, Fort, and Aman, though, are hardly up for grabs. Hall and Fort’s supporters mostly hail from the central and southern parts of the city, already overwhelmingly in favor of Lance Bottoms. Aman’s, conversely, came mainly from whiter north Atlanta, expected to once again to turn out for Norwood in December.
The real prize is the supporters of Cathy Woolard, who finished a surprising third place in November off strong support from the millennial voting population in east Atlanta. Woolard’s success wasn’t predicted in the polls, but her clear message and reluctance to ‘play politics’ clearly won the support of an untapped voting base that will likely decide the runoff.
Woolard clearly knows her position as a key swing vote, and announced Tuesday she would be holding off her endorsement until after a candidate forum between Norwood and Lance Bottoms that she would host. With so much on the line, both runoff candidates were quick to accept.
Look for details on the forum in coming days and be sure to stay tuned to the event itself – whoever has a better showing will have the upper hand in what will likely be a runoff decided by a razor thing margin.
