GIANNO CALDWELL: Bottoms ran Atlanta into the ground. We cant let her do it to Georgia

In 2020, Atlanta police investigated 157 homicides, up from 99 the year before.That was the most the city had seen in more than two decades, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The next year was worse.Shootings climbed right along with the killings.

Even CNN couldn't ignore it.It reported that by early July 2020, Atlanta had logged 282 shooting incidents, up 19% from the same point a year earlier, citing Atlanta police data.

By June 2021, the number of people shot in the city was up another 38%.More than 200 officers left the Atlanta Police Department in 2020 alone.Then-Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms did not have the backs of the Atlanta police, nor did she have the backs of Atlanta's most vulnerable citizens who depended on her for their safety.

Her tenure as mayor left the city reeling as crime exploded and hundreds were killed.That is a serious dereliction of duty.And as the bodies piled up, what did Bottoms offer? She pointed to the pandemic.

She pointed to gun laws.In a national television interview, she pointed at Republican Gov.

Brian Kemp for reopening Georgia's bars and nightclubs.Meanwhile, residents of Buckhead were so fed up that they launched a movement to break away from the city altogether.'CONCERNING': EX-BIDEN OFFICIAL UNDER FIRE AS PAY-TO-PLAY ALLEGATIONS EMERGE IN TOP GUBERNATORIAL RACEWith that list of failures, she wants to convince Georgians she's the right candidate to be governor.

Folks, that's a terrible idea, and it would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that, on her watch, hundreds ended up in the cemetery.Georgia cannot afford to risk this.

Atlanta's families found out the hard way which kind of mayor they had.Georgia Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms participates in a fireside chat during the 2026 National Association Of Black Journalists Convention & Career Fair at Atlanta Marriott Marquis on Aug.14, 2026, in Atlanta, Ga.

(Nykieria Chaney/Getty Images)Bottoms spent part of her early ...