Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders stunned political observers and community leaders by announcing Monday she is ending her quest to become the city's next mayor.

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Borders was considered the front-runner in the race to succeed Shirley Franklin, a two-term incumbent prohibited from running for another four-year term in 2009. Borders had more campaign money than any candidate and strong connections to the city's business, faith-based and African-American communities.

"I'm about as surprised as anyone," said Harvey Newman, Georgia State University's chairman of the department of Public Administration and Urban Studies. "The race is about as wide open as I've seen."

Borders, 50, said she needed to devote more time caring for ailing parents. Her father, William Holmes Borders Jr., is a diabetic with full kidney failure. She declined to discuss the health of her mother, Gloria. Both parents are 75.

"In the final analysis, you've got to be completely focused on becoming mayor," Borders said in an interview Monday. "I clearly have some personal things I need to take care of. I can run for mayor at another opportunity, but I only have one set of parents."

Many considered Borders a formidable candidate. She had about $232,000 in her campaign account at the end of June, city records show. She was an executive at Cousins Properties, one of the region's most prominent development firms. Her grandfather, William Holmes Borders Sr., was the famous Wheat Street Baptist Church pastor who helped desegregate Atlanta's police force and transit system and built low-cost housing for the poor. Borders' departure from the race leaves three elected officials in the running: city council members Ceasar Mitchell and Mary Norwood and state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), who managed both of Franklin's campaigns.

Newman said the two council members may face questions from voters asking why they didn't do more to help Atlanta avert budget troubles this year that forced cuts to several services and cost about 500 city employees their jobs through layoffs. Reed's main challenge will be introducing himself to residents, Newman said. Atlanta's population has grown by more than 100,000 residents since 2000, U.S. Census figures show.

Atlanta's next mayor must be someone who can deal with issues such as the economy, rising mortgage foreclosures and homelessness, said the Rev. Richard Cobble, a leader of Concerned Black Clergy, one of the city's most influential organizations. The group had talked Monday, before Borders' announcement, about devoting more energy to the mayor's race.

"We're going to be very vigilant," Cobble said. "We're going to see who [candidates are] in bed with and who they're taking money from."

Borders said she has not decided whether she'll run again for council president. She pledged Monday to focus on finance and public safety issues during the remainder of her term, which ends in 2009.