Dickens and Moore went to the flow after having no candidates in
a wide field received a majority of votes earlier this month. The incumbent mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, of the Democratic Party, announced in May that she would not run for re-election.
As of Tuesday, polls showed the contest was over with a large swath of voters still undecided.
Dickens, a former entrepreneur and nonprofit leader, has served on the Atlanta City Council since 2013.
In a race that focuses on the recent surge in violent crime as well as the controversy over efforts by residents of Buckhead’s affluent community to break away from the capital and form their own city, Dickens – who previously served as chairman of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee – poses
a public safety plan prioritizing community control and increasing police resources.
Dickens’ proposal calls for increasing the police force by 250 officers in his first year in office while requiring new training for every police department employee in de-escalation techniques and racial sensitivities. .
Ahead of the November 2 general election, shootings have increased dramatically from 406 at the time in 2019 to 629 this year, according to an October 23 report from the Atlanta Police Department.
When Dickens took office, he also faced concerns about low morale at the Atlanta Police Department and
number of officers who has been off the force since June 2020. Tensions ran high after Bottoms
call to shoot of the officer
shoot Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy’s parking lot in June 2020. Bottoms said she asked the officer to be released from the force the day after the deadly shooting, the Atlanta Journal Constitution
reported at the time.
Although much of their rhetoric about the need for a safer Atlanta was the same, Dickens took a different approach from his opponent on how he would handle policy in the city.
While Moore suggested removing Sheriff Rodney Bryant from his position, Dickens said he would not replace Bryant immediately and would instead give Bryant 100 days to improve the department.
