Atlanta Mayoral Race is Black-and-White

Or better black vs. white. Mary Norwood, the candidate who many thought would break through the color barrier in that town, didn't quite get a majority of votes so she will be in a December 1 runoff.

Mary Norwood swept predominately white precincts of the city Tuesday, and also found support in key black precincts, while former state senator Kasim Reed dominated his base in southwest Atlanta and had a strong showing in predominately black areas of northwest and west Atlanta.

City Council President Lisa Borders saw support collapse throughout the city, giving her a weak third-place showing.

Despite balmy weather Tuesday, turnout was low, even for an off-year election.

In 2001, when Shirley Franklin first ran for mayor, 41 percent of registered voters cast ballots. Tuesday, only about 24 percent of registered voters showed up. In many predominately black areas away from Reed’s stronghold in southwest Atlanta, voter turnout was extremely low. At the polling station of the Central United Methodist Church on Mitchell Street on the West Side, only 4.63 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. In many southwest Atlanta precincts, more than 30 percent of registered voters turned out.

Throughout the day in predominantly black sections of the city, Reed volunteers wearing T-shirts with his red and blue logo could be seen on street corners waving placards or driving down thoroughfares in trucks calling for people to vote. Borders’ signs could be seen around the city, but her get-out-the-vote effort was far less apparent.

Many voters on the fence about Reed seemed to be convinced in the end he was their man. Ralph Dickerson, 52, voted for Reed Tuesday at the West Side Community Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. He said for him the issue was not race, but politics. He said Norwood struck him as a “closet conservative” who would try to privatize city services, something he opposes. He said Borders seemed unimpressive to him and he had not seen her in his community.

With a run-off between Norwood and Reed set, their staffers will be pouring over the precinct numbers in coming days to try to figure out how to capture Borders’ voters. Expect frantic efforts to win their support. However, it’s unknown how many of those voters, or any of Tuesday’s voters, will show up again for the Dec. 1 runoff. Both campaigns also will have to scramble to fill depleted bank accounts.

If the black vote coalesces behind her opponent, Atlanta will continue its monochrome ways for a few more years. And don't kid yourself, it will be a race about race. The "leaders" in the black community will make sure of that. The panic they've shown up until now over the possibility of having a white mayor for the first time in 35 years pretty much ensures that.