Former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed files paperwork to join 2021 mayoral race
Reed served as mayor of Atlanta from 2010 to 2018
The former mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, reportedly wants his job back.
Reed, who served as mayor from 2010 to 2018, submitted paperwork on Wednesday to join the mayoral race. Reed’s two terms as mayor were controversial, but he addressed the accusations during a recent sitdown. During a recent interview with WSBTV, he spoke on the Federal case he is linked to and what he thinks Atlanta needs.
“I felt like there are things happening in Atlanta that I’d never seen in my life, and I’ve been here all my life. So that’s what caused me to start talking about it,” Reed said in regards to the uptick in crime in the city.
“I do know how to fix crime, and I do know I could turn our crime environment around in 180 days, and I know that I’ve done it before,” he added.
Members from Reed’s term are under federal investigation after they were linked to a corruption scandal. Reed was never charged but openly took responsibility for anything that happened while he was in office.
“Anything on my watch, I take responsibility for,” said Reed. “I’m sorry I didn’t see it faster, and certainly after what I’ve been through personally, but more importantly what our city was taken through, I would do everything in my power to make sure it didn’t happen again.”
He added: “The Justice Department under William Barr has looked into every aspect of my life for more than three years and took no action,” he said. “I wanted to be mayor since I was 13 years old. I told you that outside of the Office of Mayor. I would never ever [have] broken my mother’s heart by taking money from somebody.”
Reed is also running against Atlanta attorney Sharon Gay, Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore, and Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown.
The current mayor, Keisha Lance Bottom, will not run for a second term, as reported by TheGrio back in May. Bottoms first announced the stunning decision during a private phone call with staff, supporters and friends and confirmed the news during a press conference.
“This has been my highest honor to serve as mayor of this city,” Bottoms said at the presser. “Many of you all have heard me speak of my family’s history in this city going back almost 100 years. My grandmother would tell me how her father, who was a child of people who were once enslaved from Crawfordville, Georgia, packed up a horse and buggy and they made their journey to Atlanta.
“My family moved to the westside of Atlanta and they found community and they found purpose and they found a way to make the lives of their children better — and I stand here on their shoulders. My love for this city was the love planted in my heart long before I was formed in my mother’s womb.”
She added, “… in the same way that it was abundantly clear to me almost five years I should run for mayor of Atlanta, it is abundantly clear to me today that is time to pass the baton on to someone else.”
Additional reporting by Gerren Keith Gaynor
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