ATLANTA — With over 95% of Fulton County precincts reporting just after 11 p.m. Tuesday, City Council President Felicia Moore held a commanding lead in the race for Atlanta mayor and appeared headed to a runoff.
Who she’ll face on Nov. 30 is a bigger question, with former Mayor Kasim Reed and Councilman Andre Dickens locked in a tight battle for second place, with less than 1,000 votes separating them.
By 11 p.m., DeKalb County had tallied several thousand early and absentee ballots but were not reporting any results from Election Day votes. About the same time, the Associated Press called Moore advancing to a runoff.
After a dizzying amount of last-minute get-out-the-vote appearances, candidates gathered with their supporters at parties across the city Monday as election results started to trickle in after polls closed at 8 p.m. Turnout was “light and steady” throughout the day, Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron said. He said he hoped to have nearly all of the Atlanta votes tallied by midnight.
Election Day started with 14 people on the ballot for the nonpartisan mayor’s race. Voters also chose City Council and school board members.
Moore and Reed both held election night parties at downtown hotels, while Dickens supporters gathered at a rooftop venue on Auburn Avenue. Gay’s supporters gathered at Manuel’s Tavern as the Braves game played on the TVs.
People start arriving at the election night celebration night at the Hyatt Regency hotel to support Kasim Reed. Miguel Martinez for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Moore entered her campaign watch party for the first time shortly before 10 p.m. as supporters chanted “Atlanta deserves Moore.” She said she was optimistic about the early returns, but she stressed it was still early.
“These people have put their heart and soul and time and money and prayers toward a new Atlanta – an Atlanta where everyone is going to feel safe, an Atlanta where when you spend your money for taxes and services, you’re going to get an Atlanta that’s accountable, it’s going to be ethical and it’s going to be the most transparent in this country,” she said.
Reed said he felt “amazing” and “very calm” as the first results started to come in. It was his third Election Night as a candidate for mayor, but his first without his father, who passed away last year. “He was always within 3 or 4 feet of me on election nights. He was my grounding force.”
Dickens, who struggled with low name recognition in early polls, sought to win over voters who were late to make a decision in the mayor’s race.
“It’s going to be a great night,” he said as he arrived to his election night party.
As the smell of wings wafted through the air, Gay thanked her supporters and it was “disappointing” that voter turnout this year was low.
”I think people in Georgia were just sort of exhausted with voting, and kind of tired of it all,” Gay said.
Antonio Brown, the city councilman who was among the first to jump into the mayor’s race after Keisha Lance Bottoms announced she wouldn’t seek a second term, hosted his own version of a watch party Tuesday night, gathering with just a few members of his team at an apartment down the hall from his own in an Atlantic Station tower.
“I was telling someone earlier I feel like a big kid in a candy store,” Brown said. “And I think whatever is meant to happen, it’s already decided.”
In a race that has centered around crime and policing in Atlanta, voters across the city said public safety, development and city services are top issues that brought them out to the polls Tuesday.
Quinn Haaga, 26, said she voted for Moore due to her history of participation in neighborhood associations and council positions.
“That type of like civic involvement is really important because you really understand like people’s perspectives on the ground … She feels relatable and representative of Atlanta,” Haaga said.
Several voters gravitated toward Reed due to his experience in the mayor’s office. Stanley Malone said he voted for Reed because he thinks the former mayor will do the best job tackling crime and creating jobs.
“He’s been there before. He knows the job,” Malone said.
Joan Hutchison, 82, said she voted for Dickens because Atlanta needs new blood. The others were fine, she said, but she liked that Dickens didn’t come with baggage.
“He’s new, he’s fresh... We need fresh folk,” she said. “We need young folks.”
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(Journal-Constitution staff reporters Greg Bluestein, Maya Prabhu, Jeremy Redmon, Tyler Estep, Tamar Hallerman, Andy Peters, Leon Stafford and Anjali Huynh contributed to this report.)
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