Atlanta Mayor And City Council Races Were Decided In Runoff Elections Nov. 30

Updated at 12:15 a.m.

ATLANTA, GA — With 98 percent of the precincts reporting unofficial results in the race for Atlanta's mayor, City Councilmember Andre Dickens has been declared the winner by The Associated Press over City Council President Felicia Moore.

The AP made the election call about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday with 73 percent of all precincts reporting results.

Flanked by his mother, his daughter, supporter and outgoing Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and mentor and former Mayor Shirley Franklin, Dickens touted himself as a leader who would bring Atlanta together for the benefit of all.

"I draw circles, not lines," he said to the crowd of supporters as he highlighted his efforts to coalesce a phalanx of backers from groups pulling for his opponents just four weeks earlier to change Atlanta. "And today we drew a big circle."

With 251 of 260 precincts reporting in Fulton County, Dickens led 63.12 percent to 36.88 percent for Moore.

The combination of early voting returns from Fulton County and unofficial final numbers from DeKalb County show Dickens leads with 45,829 votes to 26,669 for Moore. All DeKalb County precincts reported 65.5 percent of the votes for Dickens there, according to the DeKalb County election office.

As Dickens spoke from onstage in the courtyard of the West Midtown business enclave where he networks with many of the city's small business owners, he warned the coalition of supporters that everyone is needed to make a difference in the city against enemies that outweighed politics.

"Businesses are flocking to this city, yet we still have people living on our streets. We have people working in our airport just to pay last month's rent. People are still fighting to stay in their homes in the city that they love. The city is facing multi-generational poverty. We're facing the highest income inequality in the nation. And yes, we are fighting a crime spike right now in this city.

"My opponent is bigger than any last one of the individuals that we ran against," he continued. "My opponent requires all of us."

From a ballroom at the W Atlanta, Moore told her supporters not to worry.

"There's no division," she said. "We all have the same thing that the people in the other room — where they are screaming and shouting for victory — have. And that's a love for this city. We have to be called to do the very thing that we wanted everyone else to do. And that's bring this city together."

Dickens praised Moore's tenacity during the election

"I want to thank and commend Council President Felicia Moore on a well-fought campaign," Dickens said. "I respect her and her desire to serve this city of Atlanta."

Before the election was called, Bottoms, who will step down in January after just one term, predicted Dickens' win and spelled out her expectations of him as someone to unite the city.

"He will represent us thinking of the least of these, thinking of children in our community, thinking of people across this city from Bankhead to Buckhead, from Cascade to Chastain, from Whitehall Street to the White House," she said.

Beyond the race for mayor, voters also chose Doug Shipman, CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights, as City Council president. Shipman defeated Councilmember Natalyn Archibong with 55 percent of the nearly 66,000 votes cast in their race. He had 36,370 votes to Archibong's 29,447.

In other City Council contests, incumbents Cleta Winslow (District 4) and Joyce Sheperd (District 12) lost to challengers, with Jason Dozier unseating Winslow and Antonio Lewis besting Sheperd.

In the At Large Post 3 race, Keisha Sean Waites defeated Jacki Labat. Jason Winston won District 1 over Nathan Clubb, and Byron Amos edged out Erika Estrada in District 3.

Atlanta's 5th District went to Liliana Bakhtiari in a landslide over Amanda Mahoney, garnering more than 74 percent of the vote.

(See the live results table from the Fulton County election office at the bottom of this story.)

A poll released during early voting by WSB-TV and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had put Dickens ahead of Moore by 5 percentage points.

Voters interviewed at the polls early Tuesday seemed to reflect those numbers.

“This election is very serious because it will literally change Buckhead as we know it,” Rhonda Saunders told Patch. “It’s one of the cities that’s known for urban success, and I feel like Andre Dickens needs to be in office.”

Taking one of the New Georgia Project “Rides to the Polls” vans, Julie Jones and Nannie Joseph said they always vote, regardless of the election.

“We need some things to happen here. So anytime they say, ‘vote,’ I’m voting,” said Joseph, who had just returned from a visit to New York.

Jones identified one key issue on their mind as they chose the city’s next mayor.

“Fighting crime,” she said. “Have a plan and then implement the plan. And it looks like they both have a plan.”

Jones said she voted for Dickens.

“I like his plan.”

Monday night during a final debate, Moore touted her legislative accomplishments during her 24-year tenure on the City Council.

“You name a subject. I'll tell you legislation I either wrote with my own two hands, had written or sponsored and supported,” she said, pointing to her most recent legislative win in the effort to curb City Hall corruption. “I also created something that has now become a model that auditors are using across the state called independent procurement review officers.”

She acknowledged that as council president, she has not been able to actively file legislation.

Dickens touted confidence shown in him by leaders across the city, including endorsements from Bottoms, former mayors Shirley Franklin and Andrew Young, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and six council members.

“Any mayor that has made an endorsement has endorsed me,” he said. “Any city council member that's endorsing has endorsed me. Every school board member that has endorsed has endorsed me. Every county commissioner from Fulton County that's endorsing has endorsed me.”

Both candidates aim to fight back the growing crime in the city and keep the city unified, staving off an impending Buckhead exit.

So, where do their agendas diverge?

Moore is focused on accountability and integrity in City Hall.

“There are parts of our culture, frankly, that maybe need to be changed and particularly the culture of city government,” Moore said. “It needs to change so that we can do things better and do things better for the people and not for individuals and friends and family.”

Dickens is championing affordable housing.

“I had to stand flat-footed in front of all those MPs and say this is why we need to make sure that we create affordable housing around this beltline that’s 96 percent unaffordable for everyone. It's all luxury,” he said answering a question about the extent of his efforts to promote inclusionary zoning.

Like this article? Sign up for our newsletter and get it delivered daily. It's free!