President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to be the Democratic National Committee’s vice chair.
As vice chair, Mayor Bottoms will manage civic engagement and voter protection for the organization.
“Mayor Bottoms is the only mayor in Atlanta’s history to have served in all three branches of government, serving as a judge and City Councilmember before being sworn in as Mayor,” the DNC said in a Thursday (January 14) press release.
“Leading with a progressive agenda focused on equity and affordable housing, Mayor Bottoms serves as Chair of the Community Development and Housing Committee and the Census Task Force for the United States Conference of Mayors.”
Bottoms, who became Atlanta’s 60th mayor in 2017, established the city’s first fully-staffed Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, ended cash bail in Atlanta, and closed the city’s immigration detention center.
Bottoms expressed her gratitude for the appointment on Twitter.
Mayor Bottoms helped galvanize support for Biden’s campaign, telling the Washington Post in August 2020, “We know Joe, Joe knows us. He’s known working people all his life… He knows the importance of a job is more than just wages. It’s about dignity and it’s about respect, and Joe actually understands that.”
In a historic turn, due in large part to record voter turnout in Atlanta and its surrounding metro areas, Georgie gave its 16 electoral college votes to a Democrat for the first time since 1992.
Voters in the state followed Biden’s win in the closely-followed runoff elections in Georgia, helping Democrats secure control of the Senate, and sending the first Black senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock, to represent the Peach state.
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