Atlanta Mayor's Race: Felicia Moore Will Go To Runoff Election Against Andre Dickens

Updated at 10:23 a.m. Wednesday

ATLANTA — Felicia Moore and Andre Dickens will face off for a Nov. 30 runoff to elect the next mayor of Atlanta.

The seats they each occupy now — Moore as City Council president and Dickens as a council at-large Post 3 member — also will be decided by runoff contests at the end of the month.

With all 180 Fulton County precincts reporting and 13 of 13 precincts weighing in from DeKalb County early Wednesday morning, Moore was the clear favorite with 38,845 votes, according to unofficial results from both counties.

Eyeing a chance to go head-on with Moore, Dickens began making the media rounds before dawn early Wednesday to get a jump on the next leg of the election cycle.

"We've got 27 days," he told Patch, eschewing any speculation about who Moore would face in the runoff.

Dickens was able to hold off former mayor Kasim Reed for second place with 21,918 votes, a razor-thin advantage, over Reed's 21,440, the unofficial results show. That's just 478 votes.

But because no candidate in the mayor's race (or the city council president and at-large Post 3 contests) reached the state-mandated threshold of 50 percent plus one vote, a runoff election will be held on Nov. 30 with the polls opening for voters to choose between the top two candidates in each race.

In the bid to lead the City Council, Doug Shipman and long-standing Councilmember Natalyn Archibong emerged as the top candidates. Shipman led with 27,404 votes to 24,849 votes for Archibong, who edged out Courtney English trailing with 22,249 votes.

For the at-large Post 3 seat, Keisha Sean Waites and Jacki Labat will meet again later this month. The two are separated by roughly 4 percentage points at the top of the five-candidate race. Labat trails Waites 19,753 to 23,467 with all precincts reporting unofficially.

Just before midnight, as tweeted by CBS 46 Atlanta reporter Hayley Mason, Moore spoke to her supporters announcing she would advance to the runoff.

"There's a lot of winners here tonight — all of you here, it's about to be the Braves," she started, and riffed from her campaign slogan. "Thank you, Atlanta, for choosing me as a top candidate in this race. While we do not know who will be in the runoff, I am confident that people have heard our message for change and agree with us that Atlanta deserves Moore."

Moore later tweeted her own celebratory message in solidarity with the Atlanta Braves who had just won the 2021 World Series — their first since 1995 — from Houston against the Houston Astros.

"We have TWO things to celebrate tonight," she tweeted.

Dickens Jumps Into Runoff Campaign Mode

The latest pre-election day polls tabulated by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in cooperation with the University of Georgia's School of Public & International Affairs showed Reed and Moore were virtually tied going into Election Day. The unofficial results prove that Dickens' voice was able to break through a crowded field that included two opponents with significant name recognition.

"They heard that a former mayor was running, and they heard the City Council president was running," Dickens said of voters initially surveying the field of candidates. "The good news is they heard my message and they chose my message."

Dickens said he is a consensus builder who worked behind the scenes during the election to make sure all the candidates had an equal voice. Looking forward, he appealed to these candidates and to the voters who supported them.

"I am a person who draws circles. I don't draw lines that separate," Dickens said. "To those who voted for Sharon Gay, I'd like their support. The Antonio Browns. The Kenny Hills. I'd like their support. And to those who voted for Kasim Reed. I'd like your support."

Down-Ballot Races To Watch

While Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' decision not to seek re-election sparked somewhat of a political coming-out party, there were other races up and down the ballot that proved interesting. Up for grabs across the city were 13 of the 15 City Council posts, 10 municipal judgeships and nine Atlanta School Board seats.

In other races, incumbents are in front. Those leads range from astronomical — At-Large Post 1's Michael Julian Bond up with 60 percent versus the next closest of Brandon Cory Goldberg's 16 percent — to very close for Cleta Winslows 565 votes over Jason Dozier's 440 votes.

In the School Board District 7 At-Large race, newcomer Tamara Jones enjoys a substantial advantage over second-place Kanesh "KaCey" Venning, 41 percent to 20 percent.

A tighter contest in School Board District 2 has incumbent Aretta Baldon ahead with 1,990 votes versus Keisha Carey's 1,184.

Voters Share Key Issues

At the polls Tuesday voters told Patch the COVID-19 pandemic made local issues a higher priority for them, although their choices for mayor differed.

"I feel a lot more activated after last year," Midtown resident Peter Koslowsky said. "It doesn't really feel that who we vote for as the big man in the big office is really making that much of a difference. Gosh, but I feel that this stuff here in Atlanta might actually be affecting it a little bit more."

Buckhead empty-nesters Cassandra and Eric Smith didn't live in Atlanta during the last mayoral race. But they said the uncanny uptick in crime meant voting was essential.

"I just wanted to make sure that they were someone's taking the crime seriously," Cassandra Smith said. "It seems to have stepped up some."

Frederica Lamar of northeast Atlanta said she was looking for a candidate who supported everyone.

"For me, it's more about which candidate cares about the everyday person," Lamer said. "So, as a developer with a lot of money, you might choose one candidate because Atlanta is gentrifying. But for an everyday person like me, you want a different candidate because I feel like we get overlooked."

The Smiths said they both voted for Moore.

"From what I've heard, she truly is kind of like a servant to the people," Cassandra Smith said. "And she sounds like she has a very high bar of ethics. And that's very important to me."

"Especially with the ethics scandals in the past," Eric Smith added, referring to the end of Reed's first tenure in City Hall that was marred by indictments of members of his inner circle.

Marcus Smith, who lives in northeast Atlanta and graduated from the sitting mayor's alma mater of Florida A&M University, said he voted for Reed because he was looking for someone to continue Bottoms' work.

"I think she did a really good job with the resources she had," Marcus Smith said. "So, absolutely needed to come here and vote because I feel like we need someone who's going to hold on to that torch that she has lit so far."

The frontrunners provided plenty of late drama for voters to consider in the last days before the polls opened, from Moore’s leaked endorsement negotiation with the International Brotherhood of Police Officers to the NAACP Atlanta president’s letter excoriating Reed’s record.

Should the votes tallies continue to be tight, neither will reach the 50 percent plus one vote needed to stave off a general runoff election, so voters will return to the polls on Nov. 30.

To get more information about candidates, click here.

Patch will update this story with the latest vote tallies. Subscribe to free News Alerts for election results.

Related: Candidate Profiles: What City Hall Candidates Want You To Know