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Bottoms, a lawyer, served two terms on the Atlanta City Council before being elected mayor in 2017. After deciding not to seek reelection four years later, she joined the Biden administration as a senior advisor and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

She said her most important accomplishments as mayor included steering the city through an economic downturn brought on by the pandemic, leaving office with Atlanta boasting $180 million in budget reserves without raising taxes and while providing historic pay raises for police officers and firefighters.

Bottoms pledged to expand the stateÐÔÊӽ紫ý Medicaid program if she is elected governor, a goal Georgia Democrats have advocated for more than a decade but that has been blocked by Republican governors and GOP majorities in the General Assembly.

“We’ve had nine rural hospitals close because we’ve not expanded it,� she said. “We’ve got 300,000 people in this state that don’t have health coverage.�

Bottoms said building her name recognition in rural Georgia will be an important part of her campaign. Her family history goes back generations in Crawfordville, the county seat in tiny Taliaferro County.

“You can be the most popular person in Atlanta, and it doesn’t mean a thing statewide,� she said. “I’m going to be out and about across the state.�

The only other Democrat running for governor at this early stage of the race is also an Atlantan. State Sen. Jason Esteves, a former member of the Atlanta Board of Education, declared his candidacy for governor last month.

The only announced Republican candidate thus far is state Attorney General Chris Carr. Other potential candidates to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Brian Kemp include Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.