Here are the Atlanta City Council races headed to runoffs

A couple holds hands as they walk into The Church at Ponce & Highland, a polling place in Atlanta last Tuesday. (Kendrick Brinson/The New York Times)

A couple holds hands as they walk into The Church at Ponce & Highland, a polling place in Atlanta last Tuesday. (Kendrick Brinson/The New York Times)

The Atlanta mayor’s race won’t be the only thing on the Nov. 30 runoff ballot. A half-dozen council seats and the City Council president post will be determined through one-on-one contests, since no candidate in those races received more than 50% of the vote in the general election last week.

Voters citywide will choose the next council president and one at-large councilmember, while the remaining races are district-specific. You can look up which council district you’re in on the city’s website or the state’s My Voter Page.

Here’s an overview of which races are headed to a runoff, and who’s on the ballot:

City Council President

Former Woodruff Arts CEO Doug Shipman is facing off against longtime City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong. Former Atlanta Public Schools board member Courtney English finished just behind Archibong in third place, locking him out of a spot.

Shipman, also the founding CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, polled especially well in Buckhead, while Archibong’s strong performance on the Eastside and in DeKalb County pushed her into second place.

City Council president candidates Doug Shipman (left) and Natalyn Archibong.

Credit: Handouts

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Credit: Handouts

Post 3 At-Large

This citywide seat is currently held by Andre Dickens, who is now in a runoff for mayor. The top two vote-getters on Nov. 2 were Jacki Labat, a small business owner and management consultant, and Keisha Sean Waites, a former state representative. Labat’s husband is Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat; Waites has run for council three times before and launched unsuccessful bids for Fulton County Commission chair and U.S. House.

District 1

The crowded race to replace Councilwoman Carla Smith resulted in Jason Winston, a marketing consulting business owner, advancing to a runoff against Nathan Clubb, an auditor and the former president of South Atlantans for Neighborhood Development. District 1 covers much of southeast Atlanta.

District 3

This Westside district is currently represented by Councilman Antonio Brown, who launched an unsuccessful campaign for mayor. Byron Amos, the former Atlanta Public Schools board member who lost to Brown in a 2019 special election for the seat, was the top vote-getter on Tuesday, advancing to a runoff against second-place finisher Erika Estrada, whom Brown has endorsed.

District 4

Jason Dozier, a neighborhood activist and veterans’ nonprofit leader, has once again forced longtime incumbent Councilwoman Cleta Winslow into a runoff for this district that includes parts of downtown and southwest Atlanta. Winslow beat Dozier in a runoff by less than 250 votes in 2017, and received just 93 more votes than him in the crowded general election last week, though neither got to 50%. Winslow has been on council since 1994 and is seeking her eighth term.

District 5

Located on Atlanta’s Eastside, District 5 is currently represented by Natalyn Archibong, who is in a runoff for council president. Liliana Bakhtiari, a community and social justice advocate, was just a few dozen votes away from winning the seat outright last week. She finished with 49.5% of the vote, and will face off against Mandy Mahoney, the former director of sustainability for the city.

District 12

Incumbent Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd is running for her sixth term representing much of the Southside, and will be on the Nov. 30 runoff ballot alongside local activist Antonio Lewis, who finished less than 100 votes behind Sheperd in last Tuesday’s election.