Atlanta Mayor Declines Role in Incoming Biden Administration

(Bloomberg) -- Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms turned down a position in President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet, her spokesman said, amid speculation about what role she might play in the new administration.

“Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was honored to have been offered a role in the cabinet, which she respectfully declined,” senior adviser Rashad Taylor said in a statement on Saturday. “The mayor’s focus remains on the people of Atlanta and the great state of Georgia.”

Bottoms had been rumored to be under consideration to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development or to head the Small Business Administration, a cabinet-level post. A reporter for the New Yorker said Friday she’d been offered the less prestigious role of ambassador to the Bahamas. The transition denied that report on Friday, and Taylor did again Saturday.

Bottoms, 50, whose national profile rose when her response to unrest in her city over the summer was generally well received, is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party.

Her decision not to join the Biden administration was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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