Keisha Lance Bottoms kicks off statewide listening tour in DeKalb County
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms sits down for an interview with FOX 5 Atlanta reporter Aungelique Proctor.
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is kicking off a statewide listening tour on Thursday as part of her bid to become Georgia's next governor.
She's calling it the "Standing Up for Georgia Tour."
What we know:
The tour will kick off in DeKalb County at the Clarkston Community Center at 1 p.m.
At the event, Bottoms will talk with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers impacted by recent layoffs connected with President Donald Trump's job cuts.
Bottoms' campaign said the former Atlanta mayor will be meeting with Georgia community leaders and citizens to discuss what she would do as governor to make the state more afforable.
Dig deeper:
Earlier this month, Bottoms announced that she has raised around $1.1 million for her campaign - loaning the campaign $200,000 and collecting $900,000 from donors.
The Democrat served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022, where she received national recognition for her leadership during the George Floyd protests, her work on affordable housing, and efforts to advance social justice. However, she also faced criticism for rising violent crime during her tenure and her frequent clashes with Governor Brian Kemp over COVID-19 policies.
Keisha Lance Bottoms running for governor
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has announced she is running to become Georgia's next governor. She spoke to FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor ahead of the announcement.
After surprising many by opting not to seek a second term as mayor, Bottoms went on to serve in the White House as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden.
Bottoms will face state Sen. Jason Esteves, state Rep. Derrick Jackson, and Atlanta pastor Olu Brown in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Attorney General Chris Carr have announced their plans to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who can't run again due to term limits.
No Democrat has won a governor’s race in Georgia since Roy Barnes in 1998.
The Source: Information for this article came from a release by Keisha Lance Bottoms and previous FOX 5 reporting.