Sen. Jon Ossoff and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a senior adviser to Kamala Harris’s failed campaign, are moving into the 2026 midterms as Democrat allies in Georgia, as Republicans challenge both candidates over their past records on policing, crime, immigration enforcement, and public safety.
Ossoff, who is seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate, is tying himself closely to Bottoms after she became the Democrat nominee for governor. “Mayor Bottoms and I will be proceeding together, united and determined,” Ossoff told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Republicans Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who was endorsed by Trump, and billionaire Rick Jackson advanced to a June 16 runoff.
Bottoms, who has said the “MAGA Republican agenda” is an effort to “essentially destroy the United States of America,” had a tenure as mayor that included a turbulent period for Atlanta law enforcement. In June 2020, multiple reports said Atlanta police officers walked off the job after charges were filed against former officer Garrett Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan in the Rayshard Brooks case. The Atlanta Police Department acknowledged a “higher than usual number of call outs,” while Bottoms said police morale was “down tenfold.” The Atlanta Police Foundation said eight officers had resigned since the beginning of that month.
Atlanta’s homicide numbers rose sharply during Bottoms’s time in office. Breitbart News reported that Atlanta Police Department figures showed 154 murders as of December 20, 2020, up from 95 in 2019, while another report said homicides surged 58 percent and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described the city’s violence as “unrelenting.”
Bottoms faced criticism from Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), who said in 2021 that he was “fed up” with leaders “blaming somebody else for problems that they have in their own jurisdiction.” Kemp pointed to a state crime suppression effort that he said had led to “almost 3,100 arrests,” the apprehension of “71 people who had outstanding warrants,” and “almost 300 vehicles” being impounded, adding, “We’re just doing something about it, and it’s time that she did as well.”
Bottoms, meanwhile, said on MSNBC that Atlanta’s crime spike was partly tied to Georgia reopening earlier than other states during the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “We had people traveling here from across the country to party in our city.”
Bottoms ended the City of Atlanta’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, enacted sanctuary city policies, and removed detainees from the city jail. She also said “obstructing immigration enforcement” was part of Democrats’ plans to “reimagine” law enforcement.
Ossoff voted multiple times against Republican-backed Department of Homeland Security funding measures during the record-breaking 76-day DHS shutdown, while Democrats demanded restrictions on ICE funding. The shutdown left DHS funding stalled and diverted ICE officers into airport support duties instead of their core mission of removing criminal illegal aliens.
Ossoff has described ICE officers as “roving gangs of masked men” who “look like they couldn’t pass the army physical exam” and are “dressed up like pretend Delta Force operators.”
He also stated, “I don’t think it’s the role of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law,” adding that “It is important that there be bonds of trust between local law enforcement and local communities.”
RNC Spokeswoman Emma Hall exclusively told Breitbart News,“Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms made it clear they stand with violent criminals, not law enforcement, and it doesn’t get more radical or reckless than that. While Georgians Back the Blue and want safe communities, Ossoff and Lance Bottoms side with murderers, rapists, and thugs.”
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