By Milton Kirby | Madison, GA | February 28, 2026
On a rainy Thursday evening in Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, now a Democratic candidate for governor, made a campaign stop at Wing Nights @ Benny Paul’s in downtown Madison. The event drew a standing‑room‑only crowd, offering Bottoms an intimate setting to share her platform, her family history, and her vision for the state.
The Madison stop followed earlier appearances in Athens as part of a multi‑city swing through northeast Georgia. Bottoms opened her remarks by grounding her candidacy in deep Georgia roots, telling the audience her family could trace its history back five generations in the state. Her grandmother was from Crawfordsville; her grandfather was born in Monroe and raised in Winder; his father was from Athens.
“I’ve served in three branches of Georgia government,” she reminded the crowd — as a judge, a city council member, and as mayor of Atlanta. She noted that her mayoral tenure included “one of the toughest times,” steering the city through the COVID‑19 pandemic.
A Message Tailored to Small‑Town Georgia
Bottoms acknowledged Madison’s unique position among Georgia’s small towns. “Madison is fortunate,” she said. “Most small towns don’t look like Madison. Most small towns are struggling in this state.”
She tied those disparities to uneven access to state and federal resources. “So much of it has to do with the resources that we are getting from the federal government, also the resources that we are getting from the state government — and in this moment, the resources that we are not getting from the Federal government.”
Madison’s hospital remains open, she noted, while many rural communities have not been as fortunate. Nine rural hospitals in Georgia have closed, she said, arguing that Medicaid expansion is essential to stabilizing healthcare access statewide.
Before Congress passed what she called the “Big Ugly Bill,” Bottoms said, 300,000 Georgians lacked access to healthcare. After the bill’s passage, she argued, premiums “skyrocketed.”
Affordability, Taxes, and Education
Bottoms highlighted affordability as a central theme of her campaign. “The affordability issue is not a hoax,” she said. “We are talking about the cost of utilities, the cost of healthcare, and the cost of living in general.”
She reiterated her interest in eliminating state income taxes, particularly for teachers, but emphasized that any tax reform must be done responsibly. “If we don’t act responsibly in how we eliminate state income taxes, then local sales taxes have to go up,” she said. “Local input is exceedingly important.”
Education also featured prominently. Bottoms said she wants to create a pathway to free technical and community college, describing it as a workforce investment that would benefit the entire state.
Record as Mayor and Vision for the State
Bottoms pointed to her record in Atlanta as evidence of her ability to deliver results. During her administration, she said, the city achieved four consecutive balanced budgets, avoided raising property taxes, and created or preserved 7,000 units of affordable housing. She also cited the creation of a child savings account for all public school kindergartners and investments in workforce development.
“If we can do it in Atlanta, in the midst of a historic economic downturn, I know that we can do even better and even more across the state of Georgia,” she said.
She also highlighted an entrepreneurial training program launched during her tenure. “I saw kids who had hustle and a spirit for entrepreneurship,” she said, adding that the needs across Georgia remain “plentiful.”
A Warm Reception in Madison
The event was hosted by Brince and Emily Benford, owners of Wing Nights @ Benny Paul’s. Brince Benford said hosting the meet‑and‑greet was meaningful for his family and business. “It was great for us to participate in democracy,” he said.
Despite the steady rain voters packed the restaurant, listening with what appeared to be intense curiosity. After her remarks and a brief Q&A, Bottoms stayed to take photos with every attendee who lined up.
Several voters, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Truth Seekers Journal they were “excited about the Bottoms campaign for governor.”
A Shifting Democratic Field
Bottoms’ visit came one week after a Democratic gubernatorial forum featuring seven candidates. The field narrowed on Thursday when State House member Ruwa Romman announced she was suspending her gubernatorial campaign to run for the open Georgia State Senate District 7 seat instead.
The Democratic primary is scheduled for May 19, 2026, with the general election set for November 3, 2026. Voters at the Madison event said they were eager to hear more from the candidates as the race continues to take shape.
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As Mayor if Atlanta Bottoms decided that the job was too difficult and chose not to run for a second term. How is she going to manage being Governor of the State of Georgia? We need and deserve someone who is able to handle the very demanding job of Governor.
I recently learned that, in my reply to an article titled “Bottoms Brings Gubernatorial Message to Madison” in Truth Seekers Journal, I made a statement that was incorrect. I stated that Mayor Bottoms decided not to run for a second term as Mayor because the job was too difficult. It is true that Mayor Bottoms never said those words. However, sometimes one may discern from statements made by former Mayor Bottoms exactly what she was thinking. Often, people gain greater insights from what remains unsaid than from what is openly expressed.
According to Politico on May 7, 2021, Mayor Bottoms held a press conference stating that she would not seek a second term as Atlanta’s Mayor. Bottoms said that “it is abundantly clear to me today that it is time to pass the baton on to someone else.” She went on to say “The last three years have not been at all what I would have scripted for our city,”
Mayor Bottoms oversaw a city marred in multiple crises, including a sweeping citywide cyber attack in her first three months, a federal investigation into corruption by the previous administration, the police killing of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, a spike in violent crime across the city and not least of all the Corona Virus. Bottoms stated that she had been considering her exit from the mayor’s race for “a very long time” and that she knew “as early as her first year in office” that she might not seek a second term.
Meanwhile, the former Mayor was all over television making appearances on news shows like CNN and Meet the Press auditioning for the Vice-President slot or a Cabinet Member position. She was not offered either position. She was later appointed as a Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for Public Engagement after not seeking a second term. Taking a pay cut of more than $70,000 from her previous job as Mayor. Keisha was Senior Adviser to the President for only 7 months.
Bottoms acknowledged that not seeking a second term was in her words “something that’s not ordinary.” She was the second Black woman to lead Atlanta and not since WWII has a mayor not sought a second term.
Keisha Lance Bottoms has spoken extensively about the intense, 24/7demands of the job and how they intersected with her role as mother of four, particularly during the turbulent year of 2020. Keisha often discussed the difficulty of finding time to sleep and the strain of constant crisis management. In addition, Keisha has stated that she views her work through the lens of being a mother, telling interviewers in 2020 that her work as mayor often felt like it had to “fit in somewhere in between” her responsibilities to her children. Finalliy, Keisha admitted that the role of mayor was not a perfect fit for her personality, noting that she was “an introvert masking as an extrovert.” Every politician that I have ever known is an extrovert and also a bit of a narcissist!
While Keisha never explicitly said the role of Mayor was too challenging, her own comments suggest she felt inundated by the numerous crises during her tenure. She admitted that, as early as her first year in office, she was already considering not running for re-election. Additionally, she recognized that a re-election campaign would be difficult because former President of the Atlanta City Council, Felicia Moore, had decided to run against her. Although Keisha claimed that she would have easily won reelection.
Now former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is asking the citizens of Georgia to elevate her to the office of Governor. An office far more demanding than mayor of the city of Atlanta!