Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is reportedly undergoing vetting for the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket, said that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) was behaving bizarrely and also suggested his recent decision to file a lawsuit against Atlanta could have been motivated by sexism.
“The governor has done many things as of late, and said many things as of late, that quite frankly are simply bizarre,” Bottoms told CBS News on Sunday, as previously highlighted by The Daily Caller. “He filed a 124-plus page lawsuit against me this week, calling for an emergency injunction to stop me from speaking about his orders.”
“This blame-game is most unusual. There were other cities in our state who instituted mask mandates and he did not push back against them. I don’t know if it’s because perhaps they were led by men, or if it’s perhaps because of the demographic in the city of Atlanta,” said Bottoms, using a vague term to suggest that the race, age, or income level of the people in Atlanta could also be a factor.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Kemp filed a lawsuit against Atlanta last week in order to prevent Bottoms from enforcing the city’s mask mandate. In a statement, Attorney General Chris Carr indicated that the lawsuit was about Atlanta’s decision to “knowingly enter orders that are unenforceable and void.”
“The state of Georgia continues to urge citizens to wear masks. This lawsuit is about the rule of law,” said the attorney general.
The Constitution gives @GovKemp chief executive power for the State, including during a public health state of emergency. The @CityofAtlanta cannot continue to knowingly enter orders that are unenforceable and void.https://t.co/yRSQZYDtgo
— GA AG Chris Carr (@Georgia_AG) July 16, 2020
According to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Georgia reported 4,689 cases of coronavirus on Saturday — the highest single-day figure to date — and has reported a total of 139,872 cases. As of the same day, the death toll had reached 3,173 in total.
Shortly before the lawsuit was filed, Bottoms said she was “not afraid of the city being sued, and I will put our policies up against anyone’s, any day of the week.” In response to the lawsuit, Bottoms accused Kemp of wasting tax dollars that could be used to expand “testing and contract tracing.”
3104 Georgians have died and I and my family are amongst the 106k who have tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, I have been sued by @GovKemp for a mask mandate. A better use of tax payer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing. #ATLStrong pic.twitter.com/z4hpTrCS1B
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) July 16, 2020
Candice Broce, a spokesperson for Kemp, told AJC prior to the lawsuit that Kemp was focused on the constitutionality of mask mandates, as previously highlighted by The Blaze.
“Like all of the local mask mandates, Mayor Bottoms’ order is unenforceable,” said Broce. “We continue to encourage Georgians to do the right thing and wear a mask voluntarily. If the Mayor wants to flatten the curve in Atlanta, she should start enforcing the current provisions of the Governor’s orders.”