Atlanta, GA Mayor: With a month to go before the Nov. 7 non-partisan primary to succeed termed-out Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, SurveyUSA is out with another poll on behalf of the NBC affiliate 11Alive. They once again show City Councilor Mary Norwood, a rare candidate who identifies as an independent in this heavily Democratic city, out in front, but they've started to show some movement in the race for the second spot in the December runoff. The results are below, with SurveyUSA's July results in parentheses:
City Councilor Mary Norwood: 28 (27)
City Councilor Keisha Lance Bottoms: 15 (9)
City Council President Ceasar Mitchell: 10 (10)
Ex-Atlanta chief operating officer Peter Aman: 7 (6)
Ex-state Sen. Vincent Fort: 7 (8)
City Councilor Kwanza Hall: 7 (9)
Ex-City Council President Cathy Woolard: 7 (6)
Ex-Fulton County Commission Chair John Eaves: 2 (4)
The only other poll we've seen here in the last few weeks was a late August survey from the GOP pollster Landmark Communications for another local news station. They also showed Norwood up front with 25 percent, but they had Lance Bottoms and Aman tied at 12 percent each for second, with Mitchell just behind at 10.
And what does Reed think of the candidates running to replace him? Reed recently declared, " Let’s be real clear, nobody running for mayor could beat me," which is one of the nicer things he's said about some of the contenders. Back in 2009, Reed defeated Norwood in the December general election by just over 700 votes, and he's not exactly charitable now, calling his narrow win "light work," and he's continued to portray her as a secret Republican.
Reed has also fought with Mitchell, who serves as City Council president, with him calling Mitchell "not man enough to respond to another man" after a recent Twitter spat and "a disaster in terms of his integrity"; labeled Woolard "a quitter"; and called Fort, whom Bernie Sanders recently campaigned for, "One of the most disappointing human beings I’ve ever seen."
Reed has been much kinder toward Bottoms and to Aman, who used to work in Reed's administration. At the beginning of the year, Reed blasted an invite to a Bottoms fundraiser to his email list, though he has not officially taken sides. Reed has also refrained from criticizing Hall.
As we've noted before, racial politics might also play a role in how this contest turns out: Fort, Eaves, Hall, Mitchell, Bottoms, and Sterling are African American, while Norwood, Woolard, or Aman would be the city's first white mayor since the mid-1970s. While Atlanta remains a majority-black city, black professionals have been moving to the suburbs and are being replaced with well-off new white residents. According to Governing Magazine's Alan Greenblatt, "Atlanta is still majority-black, but just barely."
The city's rising cost-of-living has emerged as a major issue in this campaign, though it's not clear which candidates are benefiting from the debate. It's also not clear what role Reed's legacy will play in this contest. Last week, former city procurement director Adam Smith plead guilty to taking bribes as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Reed has not been implicated in the matter, but his critics are arguing the scandal is a sign that the city needs a new direction.