Borders coy on mayoral bid

Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders has refuted a published report that she will announce next week she’s back in the mayor’s race.

“There’s no official announcement yet,” Borders said in a telephone interview. “I am not making an announcement April 1.”

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Allen Sullivan / asullivan@ajc.com

Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders (left) and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin at the Atlanta Dream’s inaugural game at Philips Arena on Friday, May 23, 2008.

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Borders surprised many political observers in August by ending her campaign. Borders said then that she needed to devote more time to her ailing parents.

There’s been much speculation in recent months that Borders will re-enter the mayoral campaign. Some supporters have contacted others in recent weeks to gauge their support for the council president. Borders has said she is thinking about returning to the mayor’s race.

Mayor Shirley Franklin, a two-term incumbent, is prohibited by city code from running for a third consecutive term.

Borders, 51, has ties to the city’s civil rights, business and political communities, which many think make her a frontrunner in the race. Her late grandfather, William Holmes Borders, was pastor of Wheat Street Baptist Church and helped desegregate Atlanta’s police force. She’s a former executive at Cousins Properties, a prominent development firm.

Her departure from the campaign gave other candidates time to raise more money and put together campaign staffs. Borders had about $232,000 in her mayoral campaign account when she stopped her campaign. By the end of 2008, two candidates, Councilwoman Mary Norwood and state Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta), each had more than $275,000 in the campaign war chests.

About a dozen other candidates have filed paperwork to raise money to run for mayor. The election is Nov. 3.