ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 16: Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks at the Good Neighbor Club Grand Opening at Coan Park Recreation Center on December 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images)
Keisha Lance Bottoms has chosen her next career step after serving as mayor of Atlanta for one term. News broke in May 2021 that Keisha wouldn’t be seeking reelection in 2022. But there wasn’t much clarity on where her career would go next. Then, early Monday, she addressed her forthcoming role for the first time since her term ended early January.
“I am thrilled to officially announce that I have joined CNN as a Political Commentator,” Keisha tweeted. “As a @FAMU_1887 student, I applied for the coveted VJ program at @CNN and didn’t get in. To now join the team nearly 30 yrs later is a reminder that a dream deferred is never a dream denied.”
You may remember Keisha made history when she secured her role as Atlanta mayor. She was only the second Black woman to lead in the position and the “only mayor to have served in all three branches of government.” Those roles included a judge and City Council member.
Keisha’s decision not to re-run for mayor came after she “respectfully declined” a political resume builder. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris offered Keisha an opportunity to join their cabinet. She passed on it.
The decision also came after a rollercoaster first term. Keisha faced plenty obstacles from a city-targeted cyber attack in 2018 to a global pandemic and a Georgia governor who opposed her safety measures with a lawsuit. Then, in May 2020, a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd and racial injustice protests also reached Keisha’s city. Not even a month later, an Atlanta police officer shot and killed Rayshard Brooks.
Keisha spoke to ‘Elle’ magazine about her mayoral experience in a published Jan. 10 article.
“I knew I could do the job for another four years. But at what cost? Right after I announced I wouldn’t run, several people told me my voice sounded different,” Keisha said. “That was scary—that there was a lightness in my voice they could already hear. People told me I was smiling more; I didn’t know that I hadn’t been.”
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