ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms took the next step at her potential run for governor.

Although she has not officially announced she would be running, she filed paperwork with the state to establish a campaign committee. She called this an “important administrative step in this journey.”

Bottoms served only one term as mayor from 2018 to 2022. She is the only Atlanta mayor to serve one term since Sam Massell’s loss to Maynard Jackson in 1973.

“I am honored and humbled by the encouragement I have received as I have considered running for governor,” she said in a statement. ”I look forward to making an announcement in the coming weeks.”

Before becoming mayor, Bottoms served on the Atlanta City Council.

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After she declined to run for reelection, then-President Joe Biden nominated her as vice chair of civic engagement and voter protection at the Democratic National Convention.

In June 2022, Bottoms joined the Biden administration as senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

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Bottoms also served as a member of the Biden administration’s export council and as a member of his reelection campaign.

Gov. Brian Kemp has been in office for two terms and can’t seek a third, as per state law, meaning Georgia’s 2026 gubernatorial race is wide open.

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