Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens kicked off the official election season on Aug. 19 when he announced his reelection campaign goals on the City Hall steps.
Dickens has formally qualified to run for a second term as the Mayor of Atlanta in the Nov. 4 election. The formal qualifying period for municipal election candidates runs from Aug. 19 to 22. As an incumbent, Dickens joins a field of long-shot candidates vying to take his current seat.
Mayor Dickens was first elected in 2021. He took office in 2022 amid the pandemic, mounting crime and threats of Buckhead cityhood. In the years since, the mayor has worked on affordable housing, the controversial Public Safety Training Center known as “Cop City” and major economic growth from inside and outside the city.
The sitting mayor told a gaggle of supporters he would continue work on public safety, affordable housing and economic growth. If he’s reelected, it will be Dickens’ final term to deliver on his mayoral goals.
He has promised to complete those goals if reelected, like preserving or adding 20,000 affordable housing units by 2030 and transitioning the city to 100 percent clean energy by 2035.
“We’re going to build another 10,000 units of affordable housing across the city, from downtown to West End, and English Avenue to Midtown,” Dickens said. “We’re going to attack income inequality and economic mobility head-on by investing directly in the neighborhoods who need it the most.”
Dickens also promised to “keep investing in public safety.” His longstanding support for “Cop City” is one of the controversies following him into the election, along with the city’s fraught water infrastructure and a difficult relationship with the conservative Trump administration in the federal government.
But the mayor has already raised millions of dollars from his pool of supporters and donors. Atlanta’s mayoral incumbents historically win a second term, too. Since 1962, six of the past eight mayors have served at least two terms as mayor.
“I’m ready to keep working for you and this city, and we’ve got big plans to keep moving Atlanta forward,” Dickens said.
With the mayoral race in full swing, Dickens joins a packed electoral season. In November, residents will vote for all 15 City Council seats, with three wide–open races. The mayor’s office said Dickens will continue his campaign ahead of the Nov. 4 election.
Andre Dicken’s legacy will forever be the mayor that derailed Atlantans transit ambitions. For a man that fears not being liked, he will not be judged kindly in our city’s history. Where is the Beltline rail that was promised?