Atlanta Mayoral Race Heads to Runoff

Unusually low voter turnout and results along racial lines are two factors that kept both Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed from large majority wins. Norwood received 46 percent of the vote and Reed 36 percent. Despite a robust lead in the polls, Independent candidate Norwood carried the white vote but was unable to motivate enough votes in several key black neighborhoods to take the race from Reed. So now, despite exhausted campaign coffers, the two will gear up immediately for a runoff election to be held on Dec. 1.

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. Source: Racial lines define results, AJC.com

Reporters and academics closely watching the Atlanta mayoral race up say black candidates have rejected any direct attempts to push Norwood's race as a relevant discussion point. Will that change as the race tightens?

Reed, who counts as fans the rapper Ludacris and much of Atlanta's civil rights power base, did capture much of the vote on the largely black Southwest side. But Norwood, a former radio executive and neighborhood booster, made surprisingly deep inroads in to the black community, and she is viewed by many as a gung-ho proponent of rich and poor neighborhoods alike.

A milestone came in August, when a memo penned by two Clark Atlanta University professors brought race into the campaign by pointing out the importance of keeping blacks in control of city hall.

While the candidates disavowed the memo – Ms. Borders, the city council president, notably said, "The color of skin of our next mayor is not the issue" – it still marked a turning point in the campaign.

The racial dynamics are likely to intensify now. Indeed, racial rhetoric has dominated Atlanta runoffs going back to 1973, when Maynard Jackson became the city's first black mayor five years after Martin Luther King Jr. – Atlanta's favorite son – was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

By running ads depicting Norwood as a Republican in disguise, Reed has already used coded references to race. Norwood has also subtly "racialized" the campaign, using, for example, obviously black voices in radio ads, says Oglethorpe University professor Kendra King. Source: Atlanta mayoral race 2009 results are murky on race in politics - csmonitor.com

Last night, both candidates spoke of continuing "high-minded" campaigns. We'll watch what happens as Dec. 1 gets closer.