Keisha Lance Bottoms officially joins Biden administration

Caption

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks during a press conference at City Hall on Friday, July 16, 2021.

Credit: Itoro N. Umontuen/The Atlanta Voice

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be joining President Joe Biden’s administration in an official capacity. Bottoms will be named Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the coming weeks. The news was first reported by Axios. 

Bottoms will replace Cedric Richmond during a time when the Biden administration is facing the headwinds of inflation, rising gas prices, floundering approval ratings plus policy fights within the moderate and progressive wings within the Democratic Party.

With this appointment, President Biden is attempting to signal a recommitment to the African-American voting bloc that championed his campaign in 2020. Bottoms will be a key surrogate to promote Biden’s policies and then hope to sway opinions that the president is charting the right approach.

Bottoms was a key surrogate during the 2020 presidential campaign. Additionally, Bottoms was on President Biden’s shortlist for vice-president.

Only the second woman to be elected to Atlanta’s highest office, Bottoms was designated a “Woman to Watch in 2018” by Viacom’s BET Network. She has also been profiled by Atlanta, Georgia Trend, Ebony, Essence and Politico magazines, where she was named “the most prominent Black female executive in the South — and one of the few in the entire country.”

Moreover, Bottoms is the only mayor in Atlanta’s history to have been elected to all three branches of government, serving as a judge and city councilmember before being sworn in as mayor.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Atlanta Voice.