Andre Dickens will serve as the 61st mayor of Atlanta after defeating Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore in the runoff election Tuesday. Dickens won 44,249 votes out of 70,488 (63%) while Moore garnered 28,572 votes.

“We gather in victory for Atlanta,” Dickens told the crowd at his victory party after the election was called by the Associated Press. “We voted for progress, and a problem solver, and a bridge builder, and transformation.” 

Surrounded by family, members of his campaign and current Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Dickens thanked his supporters.

“They believed that this city needed a unifier, somebody that could bring this whole city together,” Dickens said. “Tonight, I am beyond humbled that you have chosen me.”

Andre Dickens. (Courtesy Atlanta City Council)

He commended Moore for “her desire to serve the city of Atlanta” and expressed a need for unity among city residents.

“We need to capture the spirit of Atlanta in this very moment that we have,” Dickens said. “A future that has one city, with one vision; one city, one future; a future that restores Atlanta to that  shining city on a hill.” 

In Moore’s concession speech to her supporters at her campaign party, she extended support to Dickens, who had called her earlier that night.

“There’s no division tonight between the Dickens camp and the Morre camp, because tonight we’re all camp Atlanta,” Moore said.

She encouraged her supporters to embrace Dickens.

“I certainly will do anything that I can do, and I would ask each and every one of you to do the same, that we can help him and his administration as he moves forward,” Moore said. 

Moore and Dickens advanced to the Nov. 30 runoff election after leading the Nov. 2 mayoral election with 41%  and 23% votes, respectively, according to data from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution collected from Fulton and DeKalb Counties. 

Moore and Dickens campaigned among 14 other candidates: a crowded race after current Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced she would not run for a second term. She did not give a specific reason, although she had a tumultuous term as mayor, presiding over both the pandemic and wide-spread protests in summer 2020. 

Moore and Dickens advanced to the runoff after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. Former Mayor Kasim Reed, an early favorite, came in third behind Dickens and did not proceed to the runoff. 

Prior to the results of the runoff on Tuesday, Dickens discussed his motivation for running for mayor to the news station.

“I see a problem and I solve a problem,” Dickens said. “I’m an engineer that likes to fix things.” 

Channel 2 reported that turnout had been “light” and that this is typical for a runoff election. The news station also reported no issues with lines or voting.

On FOX5 Atlanta, Moore discussed the easy voting day and said “There’s no excuse not to vote.”

Dickens plans to focus on crime as a major issue in Atlanta, in addition to infrastructure, housing and preventing a potential secession of the Buckhead neighborhood.

“Public safety, it can’t wait,” Dickens said in his victory speech.

Additionally, the city council president race runoff occurred on Nov. 30 between Doug Shipman (95C) and councilwoman Natalyn Mosby Achibong. Shipman won with 39,892 of 74,471 votes (54%) to Archibong’s 34,579 votes (46%), according to Fox 5.

Shipman led the Nov. 2 race with 31% of the vote. Achibong, who polled the second-highest with 28% of the votes, advanced to the runoff with Shipman.

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