Atlanta elections, 2009

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A municipal election in the City of Atlanta was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2009. Atlanta is the capital of the state of Georgia and is the largest city in Georgia and is the center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the South.

Atlanta Capital of Georgia, United States

Atlanta is the capital of, and the most populous city in, the U.S. state of Georgia. With an estimated 2017 population of 486,290, it is also the 38th most-populous city in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5.8 million people and the ninth-largest metropolitan area in the nation. Atlanta is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia. A small portion of the city extends eastward into neighboring DeKalb County.

U.S. state constituent political entity of the United States

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Georgia (U.S. state) State of the United States of America

Georgia is a state in the Southeastern United States. It began as a British colony in 1733, the last and southernmost of the original Thirteen Colonies to be established. Named after King George II of Great Britain, the Province of Georgia covered the area from South Carolina south to Spanish Florida and west to French Louisiana at the Mississippi River. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788. In 1802–1804, western Georgia was split to the Mississippi Territory, which later split to form Alabama with part of former West Florida in 1819. Georgia declared its secession from the Union on January 19, 1861, and was one of the original seven Confederate states. It was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15, 1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States. From 2007 to 2008, 14 of Georgia's counties ranked among the nation's 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South. Atlanta, the state's capital and most populous city, has been named a global city. Atlanta's metropolitan area contains about 55% of the population of the entire state.

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Voters filled the offices of mayor of Atlanta, members of the Atlanta City Council and members of the Atlanta Board of Education, for terms commencing January 2010 and ending January 2014. Voters also voted in retention elections on a number of Municipal Court judges. The election was non-partisan, meaning that political party affiliations did not appear on the ballot.

Atlanta City Council city council of Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta City Council is the main municipal legislative body for the city of Atlanta, Georgia. It consists of 16 members primarily elected from 12 districts within the city. The Atlanta City Government is divided into three bodies: the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The Atlanta City Council serves as the legislative branch. City departments, under the direction of the mayor, constitute the executive branch and the Courts, the judicial branch.

A judicial retention election is a periodic process in some jurisdictions whereby a judge is subject to a referendum held at the same time as a general election. The judge is removed from office if a majority of votes are cast against retention.

A political party is an organized group of people, often with common views, who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters' interests.

Mayor

Kasim Reed in 2009 Kasim Reed 2009.jpg
Kasim Reed in 2009

The Mayor is the city's chief executive officer and head of the executive branch, which carries out the laws that have been instituted by the Council. The mayor is responsible for the day-to-day operations of city government.

Chief executive officer highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator

The chief executive officer (CEO), or just chief executive (CE), is the most senior corporate, executive, or administrative officer in charge of managing an organization – especially an independent legal entity such as a company or nonprofit institution. CEOs lead a range of organizations, including public and private corporations, non-profit organizations and even some government organizations. The CEO of a corporation or company typically reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the entity, which may include maximizing the share price, market share, revenues, or another element. In the non-profit and government sector, CEOs typically aim at achieving outcomes related to the organization's mission, such as reducing poverty, increasing literacy, etc.

The executive is the organ exercising authority in and holding responsibility for the governance of a state. The executive executes and enforces law.

Incumbent mayor Shirley Franklin was prevented by term limits from running for another term in 2009. [1]

Shirley Franklin American mayor

Shirley Clarke Franklin is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party who served as the 58th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2002 to 2010. She currently serves as a member on the board of directors for both Delta Air Lines and Mueller Water Products.

A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, where a leader effectively becomes "president for life". This is intended to protect a democracy from becoming a de facto dictatorship. Sometimes, there is an absolute or lifetime limit on the number of terms an officeholder may serve; sometimes, the restrictions are merely on the number of consecutive terms he or she may serve.

The four leading mayoral candidates, based on standing in polls, took part in a final debate sponsored by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV were City Council President Lisa Borders, City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, state Senator Kasim Reed, and attorney Jesse Spikes. Minor candidates included Peter Brownlowe, Kyle Keyser, and write-in candidates. [2] Previously on October 14, 2009, Emory University sponsored a debate which included the six front running candidates. [3]

WSB-TV ABC affiliate in Atlanta

WSB-TV, virtual channel 2, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The station maintains studios and offices at the WSB Television and Radio Group building on West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta; its transmission tower is located on the border of the city's Poncey-Highland and Old Fourth Ward neighborhoods.

Lisa Borders American politician

Lisa Michelle Borders is the former president and chief executive officer of Time's Up. She was formerly the president of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the former vice president of global community affairs at The Coca-Cola Company. She became the fourth president of the WNBA on February 10, 2016. She previously served as president of the Atlanta City Council of Atlanta, Georgia from 2004 to 2010, having been elected at-large in an August 10, 2004 special election, her first run for public office. Her duties included presiding over and maintaining relationships with the city government.

Mary Norwood American politician

Mary Norwood is an American businesswoman and politician who is a former member of the Atlanta City Council. A political independent, she was a candidate for mayor of Atlanta in 2009 and 2017. In both campaigns she advanced to the runoff, but respectively lost to Kasim Reed and Keisha Lance Bottoms by narrow margins. In addition to her mayoral runs, she represented city-wide posts on the Atlanta City Council from 2002 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. She resides in the Tuxedo Park neighborhood of Atlanta's Buckhead community.

Mary Norwood received the most votes in the November election but did not win a majority. Therefore, she and Kasim Reed, who placed second, advanced to a runoff where Kasim Reed won the election.

City Council members and President of the City Council

The City Council has fifteen members. The Council's role is to advise the mayor and pass local ordinances. Twelve are elected in single-member districts by area, while three are elected at-large from one-third (four) of the 12 voting districts (referred to as "posts").

A local ordinance is a law for a political division smaller than a state or nation, i.e., a local government such as a municipality, county, parish, prefecture, etc.

A single-member district or single-member constituency is an electoral district that returns one officeholder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature. This is also sometimes called single-winner voting or winner takes all. The alternative are multi-member districts, or the election of a body by the whole electorate voting as one constituency.

At-large is a designation for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent the whole membership of the body, rather than a subset of that membership. At-large voting is in contrast to voting by electoral districts.

The President of the Council is elected from the city at-large and is the presiding officer of the Council, acting as chair of all Council meetings. The President of the Council votes on the Council only in case of a tie. The President of the Council appoints chairs and members of the various committees, subject to rejection by a majority of the Council and also acts as acting mayor (exercising all powers and discharging all duties of the mayor) in case of a vacancy in that office or during the disability of the mayor.

There were three candidates for Council President: Ceasar C. Mitchell, Clair McLeod Muller, and Dave Gregory Walker. [4]

Mitchell placed first in the November election, with 48.67% of the vote, but not a majority. [5] Therefore, he and Muller, who placed second, advanced to a December runoff.

Board of education

The Atlanta Board of Education establishes and approves the policies that govern the Atlanta Public Schools. The Board consists of nine members, representing six geographical districts and three "at-large" districts. One person is elected per district to represent the schools in a given district for a four-year term.

City of Atlanta Municipal Court Judges

The following current City of Atlanta Municipal Court Judges were on the November 3, 2009 ballots for either dismissal or retention:

All the judges were retained.

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Kasim Reed American politician, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Mohammed Kasim Reed is an American attorney and former politician who was the 59th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia's state capital and largest city, from 2010 to 2018.

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2009 Minneapolis municipal election

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Ken Hodges American politician

Kenneth (Ken) B. Hodges III is a Judge of the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the former District Attorney for Dougherty County, Georgia in the United States and was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Georgia in 2010. In 2015, Hodges started his own law firm, Ken Hodges Law, based out of Atlanta and Albany. Hodges won an open seat in a contested race on the Georgia Court of Appeals in 2018, earning nearly 70% of the state-wide vote.

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The 1973 Atlanta mayoral election was held on October 16, 1973 in Atlanta, Georgia. Vice Mayor Maynard Jackson was elected as the city's first African-American mayor, defeating incumbent Mayor Sam Massell.

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2004 San Diego mayoral election

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Saint Paul City Council

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The 2017 Atlanta mayoral election occurred on November 7, 2017. Incumbent mayor Kasim Reed, a member of the Democratic Party who had been in office since 2010, was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits.

2013 Atlanta mayoral election

The 2013 mayoral election in Atlanta, Georgia took place on November 5, 2013 alongside other Atlanta municipal races. Incumbent Mayor Kasim Reed faced no serious opposition and was re-elected with 84% of the vote. He was sworn in for his second term on January 6, 2014.

2018 Georgia gubernatorial election

The 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2018, concurrently with other statewide and local elections to elect the next governor of the U.S. state of Georgia. Incumbent Republican Governor Nathan Deal was term-limited and thus could not seek re-election to a third consecutive term.

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Keisha Lance Bottoms politician

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References

  1. ↑ http://www.ajc.com/hotjobs/content/printedition/2009/01/04/2009.html?cxntlid=inform_sr
  2. ↑ Election Summary Report Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine .
  3. ↑ http://www.emory.edu/home/news/releases/2009/10/atlanta-mayoral-candidates-forum.html
  4. ↑ http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/candidates-run-for-city-157489.html
  5. ↑ Election Summary Report Archived July 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine .
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