Keisha Lance Bottoms declared victory early Wednesday morning in the Atlanta mayoral runoff, with a lead of more than 700 votes and despite low turnout, over Mary Norwood, who is calling for a recount in a race that saw some of the city’s top Black politicians support her over the Black Democrat, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
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“This is about Atlanta. And what we said from day one is that this is about what we hope this city can be for our children’s children. We stand tonight as one Atlanta. I stand here tonight as my daddy’s daughter and I can say dreams do come true. For those who did not support me, I look forward to working with you as well, because this is still a city for all of us,” Bottoms told supporters just after midnight with the polls closed.
There were several layers to this contest. One of them was voter turnout, which was low in the heavily Black populated city. The overshadowing issue was race: a Norwood victory would end a four-decades long streak of Black mayors. This contest was also seen as a referendum on the outgoing mayor, Kasim Reed, who backed Bottoms, a 47-year-old city councilwoman and attorney. Some of the city’s leading Black politicians dislike Reed, who’s administration is under the cloud of a federal bribery investigation, and supported Norwood. They’ve speculated that Bottoms would be a puppet of Reed.
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Meanwhile, Norwood declined to concede defeat, telling her supporters that she’s waiting until at least Thursday when absentee ballots from the military and provisional ballots are expected to be counted. “I’ve done this before. The next few days are going to be all-hands-on-deck, and all analysis will be done. We are two days away from knowing,” she said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
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SOURCE: Fox 5 Atlanta, Atlanta Journal Constitution
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Atlanta’s Streak Of Black Mayors Holds Despite Low Voter Turnout was originally published on newsone.com
