8:30 a.m.
Good morning, Atlanta. As promised, here’s our final recap of yesterday’s runoff election, which saw a changing of the guard in city leadership.
Mayor-elect Andre Dickens declared that he will get to work immediately as he faces several thorny issues, including rising crime and a movement to form a new Buckhead City. Moore pledged to work with Dickens “because we’re all camp Atlanta.” She also urged Buckhead residents to reject cityhood.
“I’m on cloud nine and energized,” Dickens told CBS 46 this morning. “I’m excited to work with this new city council and I’ll be making phone calls to them today.”
Dickens said he was getting to work this week on the thorny issue of Buckhead cityhood, which is expected to dominate the mayor’s first year in office.
“I will bring this city together and I will work with state leadership to say, ‘hey. give this new mayor some runway.’ Give me 100 days, 120 days, to bring down the violent crime wave and to make sure city services are up and running at the level citizens deserve. Buckhead will see that we’ll make them safe and I’ll hear them.”
Counted out by many pundits, Dickens edged former Mayor Kasim Reed by 612 votes in the general election to make the runoff with Moore, where his campaign seemed to gain steam daily, resulting in last night’s 26-point win. For reference, Moore finished almost 18-points ahead of Dickens on Nov. 3.
Dickens, 47, is a graduate of Atlanta’s Mays High and Georgia Tech.
He will be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2022.
Here are the full results from yesterday’s runoff
Atlanta Mayor
*Andre Dickens (64%)
Felicia Moore (36%)
City Council President
*Doug Shipman (54%)
Natalyn Archibong (46%)
City Council P3 At-Large
*Keisha Sean Waites (52%)
Jacki Labat (48%)
City Council District 1
*Jason Winston (52%)
Nathan Clubb (48%)
City Council District 3
*Byron Amos (51%)
Erika Estrada (49%)
City Council District 4
*Jason Dozier (62%)
Cleta Winslow (I) (38%)
City Council District 5
*Liliana Bakhtiari (68%)
Mandy Mahoney (32%)
City Council District 12
*Antonio Lewis (60%)
Joyce Sheperd (I) (40%)
Board of Education D7 At Large
*Tamara Jones (67%)
Kanesha Venning (33%)
Board of Education D2
*Aretta Baldon (I) (51%)
Keisha Carey (49%)
Winners from Nov. 2 general election
In the Atlanta City Council races, Alex Wan recaptured is District 6 seat he last held in 2017, while Mary Norwood (running unopposed) is back on the council representing District 8.
Atlanta City Council incumbents who have held on to their seats include Michael Julian Bond (Post 1 At- Large); Matt Westmoreland (Post 2 At-Large); Amir Farokhi (District 2, unopposed); Howard Shook (District 7, unopposed); Dustin Hillis (District 9); Andrea Boone (District 10); and Marci Collier Overstreet (District 11).
For the Atlanta School Board, newcomers who have won seats include Katie Howard (District 1) and Jennifer McDonald (District 4).
Incumbents who have held their seats includ Cynthia Briscoe Brown (District 8 At-Large); Jason Esteves (District 9 At-Large); Michelle Olympiadis (District 3); Erika Mitchell (District 5); and Eshé Collins (District 6).
12:05 a.m.
With all precincts from both Fulton and DeKalb reporting in, the runoff is over.
Andre Dickens, who will be sworn in as Atlanta’s 61st mayor on Jan. 3, 2022, came from behind to edge former mayor and perceived frontrunner Kasim Reed out of the contest completely.
While Felicia Moore had a big lead coming out of the Nov. 2 general election, she lost steam to a resurgent Dickens, who managed to get twice as many votes as Moore during the runoff. Dickens received 50,071 votes to Moore’s 28,572.
There will also be a sea change for the Atlanta City Council come January with nine new members, seven of whom have never held public office. The council will also be under new leadership as Doug Shipman was elected president.
Thanks for following our coverage today. We’ll have a wrap up on Wednesday morning.
11:40 p.m.
With the majority or all of precincts reporting, here are more results from today’s runoff:
Doug Shipman has defeated Natalyn Archibong to become the next Atlanta City Council President.
Keisha Sean Waites edged out Jaki Labat for the Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large seat.
Byron Amos beat Erika Estrada by a razor thin margin for the Atlanta City Council District 3 seat.
Incumbent Cleta Winslow has lost the Atlanta City Council District 4 seat, which she held for 27 years, to Jason Dozier.
Tamara Jones has defeated Kanesha Venning for the Atlanta Board of Education District 7 At-Large seat.
Incumbent Aretta Baldon just managed to hold on to her Atlanta Board of Education District 2 seat by defeating challenger Keisha Carey.
11:15 p.m.
Jason Winston has defeated Nathan Clubb for the Atlanta City Council District. 1 seat.
11:00 p.m.
With all precincts reporting, Liliana Bakhtiari has defeated Mandy Mahoney for the Atlanta City Council District 5 seat.
Antonio Lewis has defeated incumbent Joyce Sheperd for the District 12 seat she’s held since 2004.
10:45 p.m.
Andre Dickens will be the 61st mayor of Atlanta.
10:40 p.m.
Two Atlanta City Council races to watch closely have longtime incumbents on the verge of losing their seats.
Incumbent Joyce Sheperd, who has held the District 12 seat since 2004, is behind newcomer Antonio Lewis, 1,805 to 2,684.
District 4 incumbent Cleta Winslow, a fixture on the council for 27 years, is behind opponent Jason Dozier – who almost unseated her in 2017 – 1,274 to 2,084.
10:30 p.m.
There’s more than just the mayoral race happening. The latest numbers coming out of Fulton show Atlanta City Council races in dead heats to the finish line at this hour.
Doug Shipman (22,951) is leading Natalyn Archibong (18.079) for city council president.
City council races are virtually tied at this point, except for District 5 where Liliana Bakhtiari has a commanding lead over Mandy Mahoney, 1,155 to 431. For school board, Tamara Jones has a huge lead over opponent Kanesha Venning, 24,810 to 11,865.
10:15 p.m.
Andre Dickens has widened his lead against Felicia Moore to become the next mayor of Atlanta. The latest vote count from Fulton shows Dickens with 26,497 votes to Moore’s 16,829.
10 p.m.
We’re still waiting on Fulton to drop some numbers from today’s in-person voting. Meanwhile, DeKalb early voting numbers show Andre Dickens leading Felicia Moore there as well. Dickens had 1,809 to Moore’s 953.
8:17 p.m.
Fulton County has posted results from early voting showing Andre Dickens with a lead over Felicia Moore in the mayoral race. Dickens has 15,739 votes to Moore’s 10,888.
See more results at this link.
8 p.m.
Polls have closed in Atlanta. Now the waiting begins.
7:30 p.m.
There’s only 30 minutes left to vote before polls close at 8 p.m. The after-work spike didn’t materialize, so there’s still zero wait time at the polls. With light turnout reported, we’re expecting results early this evening. Stay tuned.
5:30 p.m.
There’s still two-and-a-half hours left to vote in the runoff. Polls close at 8 p.m. At 5:25 p.m., there was still zero wait times at Fulton polling locations, so if you haven’t voted yet it will be quick and painless.
We checked on the early voting totals for the runoff in DeKalb County and see that 2,722 voters cast their ballots early, while 637 absentee ballots were returned.
3:55 p.m.
There is zero wait time at all Fulton County polling places as of 3:50 p.m. If you’re planning to vote after work, when there’s usually a spike, you can check wait times at this link. The reason for the low in-person turnout could be because 36,232 Fulton voters already cast their ballots during early voting for the runoff.
1:50 p.m.
There was no waiting to vote at both the Ponce de Leon Library in Poncey-Highland or at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Midtown around 1:30 p.m. I walked in to my polling place and was back in my car in five minutes. There were more poll workers than voters. We still haven’t received any reports of issues or lines at any of the polling places.
11:20 a.m.
So far, we haven’t received any reports of issues at polling places around the city. A scan of social media also hasn’t shown any complaints of long lines to vote.
Both Andre Dickens and Felicia Moore were up early this morning to encourage voters and cast their own ballots.
10 a.m.
Mayoral contenders Andre Dickens and Felicia Moore will be holding election night watch parties for their supporters.
Dickens’ will hold his bash at The Gathering Spot, 384 Northyards Blvd. starting at 8 p.m. More details at this link.
Moore will hold her party at the W Atlanta – Downtown, 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., starting at 8:30 p.m. Details at this link.
9:25 a.m.
Good morning and welcome to Reporter/Intown’s ongoing runoff election coverage. Be sure to bookmark this page and return throughout the day for updates.
The polls opened in Atlanta this morning at 7 a.m. and will remain open until 8 p.m. as voters decide who will be Atlanta’s 61st mayor, City Council President, and fill City Council and Board of Education seats that didn’t quite make it to the finish line on Nov. 2.
The most-watched race is for mayor as Atlanta City Councilman Andre Dickens squares off against Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore. Depending on which polls you follow, the two are in a dead heat.
You can see a complete list and read Q&As with today’s runoff contenders in our Election Guide.
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