There was never any doubt that voters on Tuesday would elect Atlanta's second female mayor. But up and down the ballot for Tuesday's runoff, metro Atlanta voters sent a wave of other women to public office.
The biggest prize up for grabs on Tuesday was already destined to go to a woman after last month’s general election pitted two councilwomen against each other for Atlanta mayor. Keisha Lance Bottoms claimed victory early Wednesday over Mary Norwood.
Other races featured the same trend. Felicia Moore bested Alex Wan in the race for Atlanta City Council President. Bee Nguyen defeated Sachin Varghese for an open Georgia House seat, becoming the first Vietnamese American elected to the Georgia House.
Jen Jordan topped Jaha Howard to represent a swing Atlanta-based state Senate district. And Kim Schofield narrowly defeated De'Andre Pickett for an open state House spot.
Two other high-profile contests featured all-women runoffs: Nikema Williams narrowly beat Linda Pritchett for an Atlanta-based state Senate seat vacated by Vincent Fort. Natalie Hall had the edge over Kathryn Flowers in the contest for an open Fulton County Commission post.
There was one notable exception: Robb Pitts defeated former state Rep. Keisha Waites in an all-Democratic runoff to lead the Fulton County Commission, helped by support from Republicans in north Fulton.
The Tuesday votes come a month after a national Democratic wave sent ripples through Georgia, powering Democrats to flip a pair of Georgia House seats thought to be so solidly Republican that the incumbents hadn’t faced challengers since the lines were drawn in 2012.
You’ll find more on PoliticallyGeorgia.com, including these stories:
Democrats have yet to consolidate behind Bottoms, AJC/WSB p oll suggests
Bottoms begins to distance herself from Reed in Atlanta mayo ral race
Bottoms, Norwood spar in televised debate in Atlanta mayor’s race
Georgia Democrats divided over party’s role in hunt for mayor
Of ‘thugs’ and ‘coded language’ Atlanta mayoral candida tes clash in GPB debate
Metro Atlanta’s LGBT voters flex muscle, see power grow in new ways
With Atlanta mayor vote, a fabled bipartisan alliance comes to an end
A closer look at the big-name endorsements in the Atlanta mayor’s race
Atlanta mayoral hopefuls call for transparency. How do they measure up?
