During this year’s Leading Women Defined Summit, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced her 2026 gubernatorial run. Bottoms hinted at her potential run for Georgia governor back in January following President Donald Trump’s claims that he fired her from her President’s Export Council position.
Former Editor-in-Chief of HuffPost, Danielle Belton, attended the summit, confirming Bottoms’ announcement. Bottoms previously served as the senior advisor to former President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. She was also appointed to the President’s Export Council in 2023 but resigned once President Donald Trump took office. Outside of her political career, she has continued to be involved in community affairs and a strong supporter of economic equity, police reform, and voting rights.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that there is a “fierce urgency of now.” For the people of Georgia, that includes having leaders who aren’t blindly following Trump off of a moral and economic cliff but are focused on the pressing needs in our communities. I have previously publicly shared that I was seriously considering a run for governor and expect to make a formal announcement soon,” Bottoms told BET.
Bottoms has had an extensive career in both law and politics. She graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in communications. After graduating from Florida A&M, she went on to Georgia State University College of Law in 1994 to obtain her Juris Doctor. Before becoming an Atlanta magistrate judge in 2002, she practiced juvenile law.
Bottoms entered politics for the first time in 2009 after being elected to the Atlanta City Council, and she was re-elected in 2013. She served as the executive director of the Fulton County Recreation Authority in Atlanta until 2017. Bottoms was Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022. She took over as director of the Office of Public Liaison in 2022, succeeding Cedric Richmond.
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