NEW: Bottoms to depart WH
Former Atlanta Mayor plans to spend time with family
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is stepping down from her role in the White House Office of Public Engagement, according to a statement from President Joe Biden.
“Under Keisha’s leadership, the Office of Public Engagement has kept equity at the heart of our agenda,” the President said Monday. “I have leaned on Keisha as a close advisor with exceptional instincts, and I am grateful to her for her serving our nation with honor and integrity.”
Biden’s statement went on to say that Bottoms will be returning to Atlanta, where she plans to spend more time with her family.
Bottoms is an early ally of Biden’s. In 2019, she was one of the first Georgia Democrats to endorse his campaign for President. There was even speculation that she was on Biden’s running mate shortlist.
Following the 2020 election, she reportedly declined a role in his incoming administration. But the two maintained a very close relationship: Biden appeared at a fundraiser with Bottoms in 2021 — a few weeks before she announced that she would not seek another term as Mayor of Atlanta.
With Biden expected to soon launch his re-election campaign, Bottoms is among the many southern Democrats who are personally lobbying the President to choose Atlanta as the site of the 2024 Democratic National Convention. “Democratic turnout in the state of Georgia is the single greatest reason you and Vice President Harris are in the White House,” she and several others said in a letter to the President.
Smart move! Spending time with family is priceless.