Atlanta mayoral candidates Sharon Gay, Kasim Reed debut campaign ads
Two candidates for mayor of Atlanta debuted their first television ads of the race, just hours apart from each other Tuesday as the clock ticks on toward the Nov. 2 election.
Attorney Sharon Gay’s campaign put $300,000 behind an ad meant to introduce her to the city’s voters. Entitled “Heart,” the 30-second video credits Gay’s work with the housing industry for the West Highlands development that replaced Perry Homes, “a housing project full of violent crime and drugs,” according to resident David Patton in the video.
“These homes went up and crime dropped. At the heart of it, Sharon was fighting inequity,” Patton said.
Meanwhile, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s campaign dropped nearly $590,000 on a 30-second video entitled “Atlanta Can’t Wait.”
The ad shows several people vouching for Reed’s experience in addressing crime. It also shows Reed promising to train hundreds of officers “in a post-George Floyd way.”
“We will implement a plan on day one that will get crime under control within 18 months. During that process I will work with neighborhood leaders across the city to make Atlanta safe,” Reed said in a statement Tuesday.
The June 30 financial disclosures showed that Gay and Reed exceeded a million dollars in fundraising.
City Councilman Antonio Brown, Councilman Andre Dickens, Kirsten Elise Dunn, Nolan English, Mark Hammad, Kenny Hill, Rebecca King, Council President Felicia Moore, Walter Reeves, Roosevelt Searles III, Richard Wright and Glenn Wrightson are also running to replace Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
About the Author
Wilborn P. Nobles III covers Atlanta City Hall for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He began covering DeKalb County Schools for The AJC in November 2020. He previously covered Baltimore County for The Baltimore Sun and education for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. He interned at the Washington Post. He graduated from Louisiana State University.
