Inside Black Men’s Campaign to Get Keisha Lance Bottoms Elected

Keisha Lance Bottoms knows Black men could help decide whether she becomes Georgia’s first Black woman governor. Now, some of the state’s most prominent Black men are making sure we know exactly where they stand, and they’re trying to bring other Black men along with them.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pastor Jamal Bryant and former Ambassador Rev. Andrew Young Jr. were among the high-profile voices rallying Black men behind Bottoms during a virtual event on Sunday (Aug. 30). Nearly 1,000 people tuned in as speakers urged Black men to mobilize for the former Atlanta mayor ahead of November’s election.

“Keisha needs us,” Moore said. “Right now, we have a unique opportunity and a unique power to make sure that the person who is sitting in that seat reflects our interests, understands our communities, understands our struggles, understands our hopes and our aspirations and understands what is required inside of this moment.”

The message comes with a pretty obvious political reality we’ve previously reported on: Democrats cannot afford to assume Black men will automatically turn out or cast a vote in their favor.

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Black voters make up roughly one-third of Georgia’s eligible electorate and more than half of the state’s Democratic voters, according to active voting data. But Black turnout has declined over time, with younger Black men among those participating at lower rates. At the same time, Republicans have made modest gains with Black men in recent elections, intensifying Democrats’ focus on a group that has historically been a critical part of their coalition.

And Bottoms is not pretending otherwise.

During a June appearance at a Georgia church, she pushed back on the idea that Black men should carry the blame for Democrats’ struggles at the ballot box. Instead, she said, Democrats need to listen.

“If Black men are saying that there is an issue, it’s because we aren’t speaking to their issues,” Bottoms said, according to CBS News. The former mayor pointed to jobs, health care and support for small businesses as concerns she hears from Black men.

But while she’s courting this key demographic, there is another important question: Do Black men trust Keisha Lance Bottoms?

Bottoms is asking voters to consider what she did as Atlanta mayor. During her 2018-2022 term, she eliminated cash bail in the city, ended Atlanta’s jail relationship with federal immigration enforcement and pushed criminal justice reforms. She also became a nationally recognized voice during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 racial justice protests.

Her record, however, is not without controversy.

Bottoms faced criticism over crime and public safety during her final year in office and surprised Atlanta politics in 2021 when she announced she would not seek reelection. Republicans are now trying to make those issues a central part of the case against her gubernatorial bid.

Now, Bottoms is asking Black men to do more than vote Democratic. She needs them to believe that her experience running Atlanta qualifies her to run the entire state, and that she should be the first Black woman for the job.

The people campaigning alongside her are making a similar argument.

Dickens, who succeeded Bottoms as Atlanta mayor, defended her leadership during the pandemic and the protests of 2020, saying he watched her handle “the hardest version” of the job during one of the country’s most difficult periods.

Whether that history translates into trust at the ballot box is another matter.

For Bottoms, Georgia’s Black men aren’t just another constituency to mobilize. They are voters she increasingly needs to convince that she has listened to them, understands what they want and has earned another chance to lead.