Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, an early Biden supporter who recently gained widespread attention for admonishing rioters in her city, is now reportedly undergoing the Biden campaign’s vice presidential candidate vetting process.
According to Politico, “two sources with knowledge of the discussions” confirmed that Bottoms is now in the running for 2020 ticket. The move coincides with the campaign’s purported “evolution” on the need to select a black running mate, “a source familiar with the internal discussions” told the news agency.
Bottoms endorsed Biden for president nearly a year ago, the day after Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) attacked the former vice president on the debate stage for his opposition to forced bussing in the 1970s and his past experience working alongside segregationists in the Senate, according to ABC News.
“For me, it was most important that we have a president who doesn’t have to walk in the door and figure out where the light switch is, that we have somebody who can lead on Day One,” said Bottoms, who attended the Democratic primary’s first debate as a guest of former Second Lady Jill Biden.
In an interview with Politico, the first-term Atlanta mayor declined to answer questions about her prospects as Biden’s running mate, saying that her “complete focus has been on the streets the last few days.” Before she was elected as mayor, Bottoms served on the city council for two terms, and was a part-time magistrate judge for six years in the mid-2000s.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Bottoms gained national attention when she admonished rioters for destroying property and looting the city, and demanding that rioters immediately “go home.”
“We are all angry. This hurts. This hurts everybody in this room. But what are you changing by tearing up a city? You’ve lost all credibility now. This is not how we change America. This is not how we change the world,” said Bottoms.
“You are disgracing our city, you are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country,” she said. “We are better than this. We are better than this as a city. We are better than this as a country. Go home! Go home!”
Atlanta Mayor Bottoms condemns rioters in fiery speech: “You are disgracing our city, you are disgracing the life of George Floyd” pic.twitter.com/QPCVkG0JIO
— BNO News (@BNONews) May 30, 2020
After President Donald Trump made remarks from the Rose Garden about ensuring equality under the law — observing that “hopefully George is looking down and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country, it’s a great day for him, it’s a great day for everybody, this is a great day for everybody, this is a great, great day in terms of equality — Bottoms told CNN that she was “disgusted” with the president’s comments.
“This is a man who has been murdered on our streets, President Trump didn’t know him, and in fact, by all accounts from George Floyd’s brother, when President Trump called to offer condolences, he didn’t even give the family an opportunity to speak,” she said. “I think if the president was going to say anything, it may have been more appropriate to talk about his family, and perhaps about him looking down on his children, and perhaps him being proud of the movement that is happening in this country.”
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