Leading Through Challenging Times: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms

By: Michael Norris, Rawi Abdelal and Kimberlyn Leary

Format:Print
| Language:English

Abstract

Keisha Lance Bottoms took office as Mayor of Atlanta in 2018 with a progressive agenda and hopes to “keep Atlanta moving forward, leaving no one behind.” She was an Atlanta native, had previously served as a local judge and city councilor, and came into office with bold plans to improve housing affordability, economic mobility, criminal justice, and racial equity in her city. However, she and her team soon discovered that circumstances outside of their control would play a major role in Bottoms’ administration. The COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice demonstrations, police brutality protests, increasing crime rates, and the health and economic challenges that all accompanied the pandemic forced the Bottoms administration to reconsider what they had to do and how they had to do it. In May 2021, Bottoms announced her decision not to run for reelection, something no Atlanta mayor had done since the 1970s. With just a few months left in her term, and the effects of the pandemic beginning to ebb, Bottoms and her team had to decide what to focus on and how to move forward to continue working on her agenda and potentially cement her legacy.

Keywords

Leadership; City; Problems and Challenges; Health Pandemics; Social Issues; Economy; Atlanta; United States

Citation

Norris, Michael, Rawi Abdelal, and Kimberlyn Leary. "Leading Through Challenging Times: Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms." Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Case 0036TC, 2021.