Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is joining the Biden administration

By Ayana Archie

Published June 16, 2022 at 1:26 AM CDT

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks at a press conference on March 17, 2021 in Atlanta, Ga. Suspect Robert Aaron Long, 21, was arrested after a series of shootings at three Atlanta-area spas left eight people dead in March 2021, including six Asian women.

Updated June 16, 2022 at 10:48 AM ET

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will be joining the Biden administration, the White House announced Wednesday, after previously being considered to be President Biden's running mate in the 2020 presidential election.

Bottoms will serve as the senior adviser for public engagement, "which works at the local, state, and national levels to ensure community leaders, diverse perspectives, and new voices have the opportunity to inform the work of the President in an inclusive, transparent and responsible way," the White House said.

Bottoms was considered for the role of vice president during Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, along with Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and others.

Bottoms, who was the mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022, did not run for reelection and has been a political commentator for CNN.

"Mayor Bottoms understands that democracy is about making government work for working families, for the people who are the backbone of this country," Biden said. "She led the city of Atlanta with strength through the pandemic, through a summer of protests and pain, and through the mass shooting that left Atlanta's Asian American community in fear. Keisha is bright, honorable, tough and has the integrity required to represent our Administration to the American public."