Andre Dickens has won the Race for City Hall.
The two-term councilman, Georgia Tech grad and Adamsville native will ascend to the highest office in Atlanta, a job he’s wanted since he was a teenager, after winning a whopping 64% of the vote last Tuesday.
That’s considered a landslide in a city where we’re used to mayoral elections being decided by less than 1,000 votes. How did he pull it off? We’ve got you covered with an in-depth analysis of how Dickens’ won his runoff after finishing a distant second behind Felicia Moore in the general election.
Atlanta’s new mayor-elect @andreforatlanta is waving to drivers at the corner of Monroe and Piedmont with a massive sign that says “Thank you Atlanta!!!”
— J.D. Capelouto (@jdcapelouto) December 1, 2021
Lots of honks and cheers pic.twitter.com/vIYWmUvLt2
Dickens now has about a month to prepare for taking office, a transition that began first thing Wednesday morning, after the mayor-elect got about two hours of sleep. He spent an hour meeting with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and had calls with Gov. Brian Kemp, House Speaker David Ralston, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and police chief Rodney Bryant. He said last Wednesday he had a list of about 20 people to work through, including leaders of the Buckhead cityhood movement.
Dickens is expected to convene a transition team, and said he will take time to “sit down and really pick a good chief of staff and chief operating officer,” he told reporters Wednesday, his voice a little hoarse after the big night.
On Friday, he had a phone call with President Joe Biden, saying in a tweet: “We have work to do here in Atlanta, and I look forward to working with you and your administration to help move Atlanta forward.”
For the first time this year, the incoming mayor will have access to $100,000 in city funds before he takes office, to start paying staff and plan an inauguration ceremony.
Thank you, @POTUS, for the phone call. I appreciate your leadership and your support. We have work to do here in Atlanta, and I look forward to working with you and your administration to help move Atlanta forward.
— Andre Dickens (@andreforatlanta) December 3, 2021
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Shortly after his victory, Dickens outlined his Day One priorities to reporters:
- Reopen City Hall to the public
- Go over 100-day crime plan with the police chief and ramp up community policing strategy
- Set up a team to be prepared for federal infrastructure dollars coming to the city
- Work with leaders at the state Capitol to keep Buckhead a part of Atlanta
He’ll have a lot on his plate — we’ll leave you with this quote from Hamilton (sorry): “Winning was easy ... governing’s harder.”
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Felicia Moore thanked her supporters in an email on Friday: “I am so proud of how you fought this fight alongside me: you fought it with empathy and kindness and generosity — and of course, with enormous passion and grit. ... I will do everything I can to move forward with the administration because we have serious challenges to face and we can only face them together.”
Dickens said in an interview the morning after his victory that he planned to meet with Moore and was open to finding a place for her in his administration, but specifics haven’t been worked out yet.
Moore also asked for contributions to help retire the campaign’s remaining debt of $10,000.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
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Come January, Atlanta will also have a new City Council president. Doug Shipman, the former Woodruff Arts Center CEO, defeated Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong 54-46% in last weeks’ runoff.
We talked to Shipman after his victory about what he hopes to accomplish and how he is preparing to hold elected office for the first time.
“I will spend probably more time outside of City Hall than inside of it,” Shipman said.
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Meanwhile, the City Council itself will see a significant amount of turnover, with six new members and two former councilors making a return to City Hall.
The council will be, on average, younger than the current one, and has a number of historic “firsts”:
- It will be the first time the council has three openly LGBTQ members, with Alex Wan, Liliana Bakhtiari and Keisha Waites.
- With Bakhtiari and Amir Farokhi, the council will become the first and only legislative body in the country with with two Iranian Americans, Farokhi said on Twitter.
- And Bakhtiari, who identifies as non-binary and uses “she” and “they” pronouns, will be the first queer Muslim elected official in the state and the first non-binary elected official to serve the city, LGBTQ Nation reported.
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The election may be over, but we’re going to keep bringing you City Hall insights throughout the transition and as the new administration begins. Please send us any tips, thoughts or feedback at wilborn.nobles@ajc.com and jdcapelouto@ajc.com.
