Bottoms, 51, disclosed her decision publicly in a lengthy open letter and accompanying video Thursday night after having told family and a close circle of associates and supporters.
“It is with deep emotions that I hold my head high and choose not to seek another term as mayor,” Bottoms wrote, saying she’d prayed about the decision with her husband, Derek, an executive at
The mayor is expected to speak publicly Friday morning.
Bottoms, who narrowly won a runoff election four years ago, pushed backed against any questions about whether she could have secured a second victory later this year. She noted a reelection fundraiser she held with Biden's support and said polls showed her in a strong position.
“'Is she afraid of the competition?' NEVER,” Bottoms wrote.
Bottoms' tenure has been a mix of rough-and-tumble
She was among Biden's earliest endorsers, taking a risk early in a crowded Democratic primary campaign. She was later rewarded as one of the women Biden considered to be his running mate, though he eventually chose another Black woman,
Bottoms nonetheless watched her profile rise during the coronavirus pandemic and with the renewed attention on policing in
She drew plaudits for a nationally televised news conference in which she chided protesters to “go home” while noting her own experiences as a mother of Black sons to empathize with citizens distraught over police violence. She pledged to review
Yet Bottoms met criticism herself just weeks later when an
The Atlanta Civil Service Board on Wednesday reversed the firing, finding that the city did not follow its own procedures and failed to grant Rolfe due process. Bottoms said then that Rolfe would remain on administrative leave while criminal charges against him are resolved.
The mayor did not mention
Bottoms came to the mayor's office as an ally of her predecessor,
The “far-reaching and ever-growing” investigation, she said Thursday, “consumed
Bottoms has never been implicated.
Early in her term, Bottoms eliminated cash bail in
She helped renegotiate the long-term redevelopment of “The Gulch,” part of the city's old railroad footprint downtown. But the city did not score the biggest potential prize for the location: the second Amazon headquarters that instead is being built in northern
An
“My ancestors, direct descendants of the once enslaved, traveled by horse and buggy from the cotton fields of east
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission., source