Joe Biden pleaded with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms earlier this week to accept a job as head of the Small Business Administration, a lesser position she turned down after calling it “ just the first step ” for her during his presidency, according to people familiar with the discussion.
Why it matters: Biden has pledged to build a cabinet that reflects America’s diversity, but as the number of marquees has declined – and several constituencies continue to scream for their own representatives – he’s struggling to thread the political needle.
- Lance Bottoms, a rising African American star and favorite of the powerful Representative James Clyburn, is open to serving in the cabinet during his tenure if the role is right, one person told Axios.
Background: Bottoms’ allies describe her as a family-oriented politician – she has four young children – who weigh the massive lifestyle change that a move to Washington, DC, would require against the nature of the work she would undertake.
- Although she was interested in small business development, running a cabinet-level agency like SBA was not the right choice for the chief executive of a big city – a position of significant influence in the New South that Lance Bottoms is fond of. said someone familiar with her thinking. Axios.
- The Biden transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Driving the news: Biden personally met Lance Bottoms when he visited Georgia on Tuesday to campaign for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, the two Democratic candidates in the crucial Jan. 5 election that could turn the Senate majority.
- Speaking at the Atlanta rally where Lance Bottoms sat on stage, Biden said, “Let’s hear it for Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the best in the business. I had my back early on in this whole deal.”
- Their one-on-one meeting lasted less than an hour and was initiated by Biden. It took place outside after the rally, behind the podium.
- The two took to the stage with Ossoff, Warnock and Stacey Abrams. When the meeting was over, Abrams, Warnock and Ossoff were led in one direction – and the President-elect and Bottoms in another.
- While Biden tried to sell SBA to Bottoms as a stepping stone to bigger ambitions – he characterized the role as “just the first step” for her on his team – but Bottoms declined, as she had previously done to his representatives, one person said.
- Despite talk that Lance Bottoms had also turned down the ambassadorship in the Bahamas, the SBA job is the only position she’s gotten so far, a person close to the mayor told Axios.
- This person said Bottoms’ options for a career outside of the mayor are open, hinting at a possible statewide race in her future, depending on how Georgia’s senate and governmental contests are shaking up.
Lance Bottoms is being watched as a rising star within the Democratic Party, which presides over a major city that has been shaken over the past year by COVID and racial injustice.
- Biden considered her his running mate before settling on Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
- Lance Bottoms is also close to Clyburn, the Democrat who helped provide crucial South Carolina for Biden. Clyburn argued for Lance Bottoms as Biden’s running mate and cast her as a “great” choice.
Be smart: Lance Bottoms was also seen as a good candidate to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for her work as the leader of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Census and Housing Policy.
- Biden chose Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who had the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, for that cabinet job.