Four candidates want to lead Atlanta for the next four years, but one has held the job before.
What’s Happening: Atlanta voters will choose their mayor on Tuesday, November 4. Mayor Andre Dickens faces three challengers who have never held elected office.
What’s Important: The race will decide who runs the city until 2030. The winner must get more than half the votes, or the top two will face off in a December 2 runoff.
The Candidates:
Andre Dickens is the current mayor seeking a second term. He won his first race in 2021 after serving eight years on City Council. The 51-year-old Atlanta native earned degrees in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech and public administration from Georgia State. Before becoming mayor, he worked for a tech nonprofit.
Dickens points to several changes during his first term. The city reports homicides dropped 26 percent since 2022. The city created 11,000 affordable housing units and raised the minimum wage for city workers to $17.50 per hour. The city also received its first AAA bond rating.
Kalema Jackson spent 13 years with the Atlanta Police Department. The 50-year-old from New York trained with current Police Chief Darin Schierbaum. He says he will hire more officers and promises transparent crime reporting.
Jackson has done little campaigning and told reporters he wants more exposure before the election.
Eddie Meredith grew up in Atlanta’s Fourth Ward and works as a community organizer. He served as pastor at a local church. Meredith promises to create 25,000 affordable homes in five years and close the city’s wage gap.
The candidate focuses on helping homeless people and preventing longtime residents from being pushed out by high costs. He promises to invest more in police officers and firefighters.
Helmut Love Domagalski works as a business consultant. He earned degrees in biomedical engineering from Texas A&M and business from Northwestern. The father of three held leadership jobs at General Electric, Microsoft and IBM.
Domagalski calls himself a Republican and political outsider. He wants to fight corruption in city government and use technology to improve public safety. He envisions Atlanta as a tech hub and entertainment capital.
Catch Up Quick: Dickens has raised $4 million for his campaign and spent $350,000 on ads, according to tracking firm AdImpact. His three challengers have not run television ads. Atlanta has given mayors second terms consistently for 50 years.
The Big Picture: The mayor runs the city’s largest budget ever, oversees about 10,000 employees, and appoints the police chief, fire chief and other department heads. The job controls how billions of dollars get spent on services that touch every neighborhood.
