Atlanta Mayoral election all about race

November 9, 2:42 PMAtlanta Political Buzz ExaminerEwa Kochanska

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And why wouldn’t it be? The campaign platforms of both of the remaining candidates, Kasim Reed and Mary Norwood , are really not that different. Race and gender are just about the only differences between the two. In the November 3rd election Reed received 38% of vote and Mary Norwood 46%. Because neither one reached 50%, a runoff election will be held December 1.

If you believe the media, Lisa Borders’ support is essential to the winner: “On Thursday the focus was on the third place finisher, Lisa Borders, who may throw her political support behind one candidate. The move could tip the scales in the December 1 election.” source 

It is highly unlikely that it would. Firstly, the assumption that Borders’ supporters will vote for whomever Borders’ chooses is rather insulting. It is time for politicians and some in the media to understand that voters do have minds of their own.

Secondly, Atlanta is about race and only about 38 percent of the city’s population is white. The top three candidates in the mayoral election this year were two African-Americans and one Caucasian. To assume that the black community in general doesn’t favor African-American candidates, while politically correct, is just foolish. They do.

In general election last week the black vote was split between two candidates to the benefit of the one white front –runner, Mary Norwood. In the run-off there will be one African-American and one white candidate. The black vote will now go to the only black candidate left which means Norwood is in serious trouble to say the least. It might even be fair to say that she’s now fighting a losing battle. And to no surprise of course, Atlanta hasn’t seen a white Mayor in 25 years.

There’s some debate that because Mary Norwood is a female, the black female vote might just go to her because women want to support women. Lisa Borders is also a woman, so according to this thought process, her supporters should migrate towards Norwood.

But we’ve heard it all before in the 2008 Presidential election, when the media went into a pretend - serious dialogue on where the black female vote would go – Barack Obama or Hilary Clinton. Naturally it went overwhelmingly to Barack Obama. But the conversation was necessary to keep things …. again.. politically correct.

New York Times reported in the pre election year how thorn black women are: “Black women (…) are divided equally between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and significantly, perhaps a third are undecided. They stand at the intersection of race, class and gender. Black men say to them, ‘Sister, are you with us?’ and at the same time white women say, ‘Sister, are you with us?’”

But in the same article one of the African-American women interviewed said: ““We always love Hillary because we love her husband,” Ms. Vereen said. Then she paused. Much of the chitchat in her shop is about whether a woman could or should be president. “A man is supposed to be the head,” she said. “I feel like the Lord has put man first, and I believe in the Bible.” source

There is no doubt that most of Borders’ supporters will vote for Reed. That leaves Norwood out in the cold. In order to win she’d have to hold on to all of her support and take away a significant number of Reed’s and most certainly shoot for nearly 100% white vote. Considering Reed was only 8% behind Norwood even when Borders was in the race, it doesn’t look like Atlanta’s going to have a white mayor for the first time since the 70’s after all.