Despite some credible outsider challenges, the status quo prevailed in Atlanta’s city council and school board races on Tuesday. All of the incumbents fended off progressive challengers endorsed by the local chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Working Families Party, and establishment picks fared well in several crowded open races — with one notable exception.
Atlanta City Council contender Kelsea Bond outright won the open District 2 seat, out of a field of five candidates. That makes them the first Democratic Socialist to be elected in Atlanta — and only the sixth in the state. State Rep. Gabriel Sanchez (D-Smyrna) became the legislature’s first-ever Democratic Socialist last year, and Bond managed his campaign.
“Nationwide, we’re seeing a resurgence of the organized progressive left,” Bond told Atlanta Civic Circle at their victory party at The Supermarket art gallery in Poncey Highlands. “The status quo in Atlanta is just not working.”
Bond’s victory came as another Democratic Socialist, Zohran Mamdani, clinched the New York City mayor’s race, validating for young progressives like Bond “the deep concerns that we all feel about the state of our cities, the state of our country,” they said.
Atlanta Civic Circle spoke to several Atlanta voters on Election Day who said they voted based on endorsements from the local DSA and Working Families Party branches, such as Royce Mann for the Atlanta Board of Education’s Seat 8 At-Large. Mann is heading to a runoff on Dec. 2 against Kaycee Brock.
One of them, Anthony Martinez, 26, said he wants politicians to “keep it ethical and try to avoid corruption.” The Georgia Tech graduate student voted at his Bankhead polling place for candidates whom he thought would serve the people over corporate interests.
Tech worker Eric Macam, 43, also followed the DSA and WFP picks. “I’m looking for more progressive candidates,” he told Atlanta Civic Circle after casting his ballot at the Lang-Carson Community Center in Reynoldstown.
But the “Zohran effect,” if there was one, did not push other upstart metro Atlanta progressives over the finish line – although Marietta mayoral hopeful Sam Foster came shockingly close.
Foster, a 24-year old Black IT systems engineer, lost to four-term white incumbent Steve “Thunder” Tumlin, who’s 78, by just a fraction of a percentage point. Tumlin won 6,762 votes – just 87 votes more than Foster. Foster framed his hard-fought, grassroots campaign as a contest over how Marietta should grow and whom it should serve.
City council status quo
In Atlanta’s hotly contested, and at times acrimonious, race for city council president, the establishment pick, District 11 Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet, was projected to beat political outsider Rohit Malhotra, founder of the Center for Civic Innovation, who was the DSA and Working Families Party pick. At publication, Overstreet was leading by 51.4% (52,389 votes), with 48.6% (49,617 votes) for Malhotra.
Overstreet campaigned as a close ally to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and his agenda for the city, while Malhotra positioned himself as a city council president who’d serve as a check against overweening mayoral power. As expected, Dickens easily won reelection against a field of unknowns.
Two incumbent council members, Byron Amos in District 3 and Dustin Hillis in District 9, easily fended off challenges from Perrin Bostic and Charles Bourgeois, respectively. Amos beat Bostic by 59.3% to 40.8%, while Hillis beat Bourgeois by 59.3% to 40.7%.
The city council’s longest-serving member, Post 1 At-Large Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, won his 5th term with a resounding 58.5% of the vote, avoiding a runoff against upstart challenger Juan Mendoza and Matt Rinker. Bond has served on the Atlanta City Council for over two decades, first as the District 3 representative from 1994 to 2001, and since 2010 as the Post 1 At-Large member. Council member Antonio Lewis also easily retained his seat in District 12.
Two open city council races are headed to runoffs on Dec. 2. In District 7, Thomas Worthy will face Thad Flowers, after finishing a close first and second in a field of five candidates. Flowers got 1,857 votes (27.2%) and Worthy got 1,913 votes (26.4%).
In District 11, establishment pick Wayne Martin will face progressive candidate Nate Jester. They were the top two finishers in a field of eight candidates. Martin got 3,028 votes (33.2%) and Jester got 1,885 votes (20.7%).
Three Atlanta school board races head to runoffs
Three of the four Atlanta Board of Education races are headed to runoffs. Only District 4 incumbent Jennifer McDonald won her race outright, defeating Sanjay Mendonca. Meanwhile, District 6 incumbent Tolton Pace, newly appointed in January, will face Patreece Hutcherson.
The two contests for open school board seats are also heading to runoffs. For Seat 8, At-Large, Kaycee Brock will face progressive candidate Royce Mann in a runoff election, while in District 2, Marlissa Crawford will face Tony Mitchell.
All results are unofficial, based on provisional tallies reported by Fulton and DeKalb Counties.
Note: This story was updated to reflect that Bond is the sixth DSA member elected to office in Georgia.
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