With just one week to go in the runoff between Keisha Lance Bottoms and Mary Norwood to become Atlanta’s next mayor, the dominoes continue to fall as high profile Atlantans make public their picks for who they think should run City Hall for the next four years.
Already public figures including former city councilman Kwanza Hall and ex-mayor Andrew Young have come out for Lance Bottoms, but now Norwood is adding some big names of her own as the race reaches a fevered pitch.
Former City of Atlanta COO Peter Aman, who finished in fourth place in the special election last month, announced his endorsement of former foe Norwood over the weekend. While he wasn’t overly friendly with her during his time in the race, his often-aggressive sparring with Kasim Reed had many onlookers predicting that he’d eventually side against Lance Bottoms. While many of his supporters come from parts of North Atlanta that would likely be considered Norwood votes, adding his name to the lineup of endorsements could aid turnout in what promises to be a tight race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin had stayed out of the limelight so far in the race, but in a surprising move she too announced her support of Norwood. Her reasons were likely similar to Aman’s – she too has gotten into it with her successor Reed in recent years, complaining that he had ignored her contributions as mayor and even jabbing him about the ongoing bribery scandal at City Hall that he has thus far narrowly avoided bring tossed into.
Reed was once Franklin’s campaign manager, but now Franklin is hoping to lend her support to the cause of making sure his chosen candidate doesn’t slide in to replace him.
The biggest prize of all remains the endorsement of Cathy Woolard, who finished a surprising third in November and captured the votes of the young-white-millennial demographic in East Atlanta.
