ATLANTA — Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first-term Atlanta mayor who rose to nationwide prominence this previous yr together with her stern but empathe
ATLANTA — Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first-term Atlanta mayor who rose to nationwide prominence this previous yr together with her stern but empathetic televised message to protesters however has struggled to rein in her metropolis’s spike in violent crime, won’t search a second time period in workplace, in line with two individuals who had been on a Zoom name with the mayor on Thursday evening.
The information shocked the political world in Atlanta, an important metropolis within the Southeast and one the place the mayoral seat has been crammed by African-American leaders since 1974, burnishing its fame as a mecca for Black tradition and political energy.
It’s unclear why Ms. Bottoms, a Democrat, just isn’t in search of one other time period, however 2020 took a toll on mayors nationwide. It was probably the most tumultuous years for American cities because the 1960s, with the social and financial disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic in addition to racial justice protests that generally turned harmful.
In November, St. Louis’s mayor on the time, Lyda Krewson, introduced she wouldn’t pursue a second time period. A month later, Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle introduced she wouldn’t run for re-election. A number of mayors in smaller cities have additionally declined to run once more, exhausted or demoralized by the ravages of 2020.
Two contenders who’ve been in search of to unseat Ms. Bottoms within the November election have promised to do a greater job preventing what Ms. Bottoms has referred to as a “Covid crime wave,” which features a 58 % spike in homicides in 2020.
However Ms. Bottoms, 51, was anticipated to mount a formidable protection. She has a loyal ally in President Biden, whom she was early to endorse, and who repaid her loyalty with an look at a digital fund-raiser in March. Ms. Bottoms was talked about briefly as a possible vice-presidential working mate and mentioned that she later turned down a cabinet-level place within the Biden administration.
Ms. Bottoms, who served as a choose and a metropolis councilwoman earlier than being sworn in as mayor in 2018, can also be blessed with a voice — measured, compassionate, barely bruised and steeped in her expertise as a Black daughter and Black mom — that appeared uniquely calibrated to deal with the challenges of the previous yr.
It was within the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that Ms. Bottoms went on stay tv and have become a nationwide star as she spoke on to protesters. A few of their demonstrations had descended into lawlessness, with folks smashing home windows, spray-painting property and leaping on police vehicles.
“After I noticed the homicide of George Floyd, I damage like a mom would damage,” she mentioned. Then she scolded the protesters, insisting that they “go dwelling” and research the precepts of nonviolence as practiced by the leaders of the civil rights motion.