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Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is set to join the Biden administration as the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, replacing Cedric Richmond as one of the president’s top aides.
The move will give Bottoms, a rising star in the Democratic Party and a former vice presidential contender, access to some of the top planning and strategy sessions in the White House, as well as direct access to President Joe Biden himself. In that role, Bottoms will be responsible for developing many of the president’s policies and then convincing the Democratic Party to back his plans.
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Bottoms told Axios she wants to do “more listening than anything” and noted that “it’s important that people feel their voices are reflected and their voices are heard.”
The former mayor has a history of collaborating with Biden, serving as a close adviser for the then candidate during his presidential campaign in 2020. Bottoms was even on the short list of names that Biden was considering for his running mate.
Bottoms will replace Richmond, who left the White House last month for a role at the Democratic National Committee. Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta between January 2018 and January of this year.
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“I know what it’s like to lead through difficult times and how important it is to have strong leaders around you to navigate. We’ve been through some very challenging times, especially for African Americans in this country,” Bottoms said, referring to her time in office during the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests in the summer of 2020. “Those challenges are still very fresh and real to me. And I live it every day: I live it as a black woman, I live it as a mother of four children, and I know where those challenges are, but I also know where the opportunities are.”
Bottoms is set to transition into the new role in the coming weeks and plans to stay in office at least through the midterm elections, according to officials. During her tenure, the White House will lean on her to unite liberal and centrist Democratic lawmakers in order to maintain Biden’s image as the White House braces for the loss of Democrats’ congressional majority in November.
