Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens makes the case for reelection

ATLANTA — After leading Atlanta out of the COVID-19 pandemic and a coinciding crime spike, Mayor Andre Dickens believes he deserves a second term as the city soon hosts its most high-profile event since the 1996 Olympics.

Dickens recently launched his reelection campaign with $1.4 million in the bank and support from Atlanta's business and political elite, including civil rights hero and former mayor Andrew Young and Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's grandson.

Atlanta's next mayor will preside as visitors flood the city for eight matches of the 2026 World Cup. No prominent challengers have emerged for the fall election. If that holds through candidate qualifying in August, Dickens' second mayoral bid could forgo the drama of 2021, when the then-city councilman won a surprise victory over two better-known rivals.

Dickens says he's fulfilling promises to lower crime and boost affordable housing. And he shrugs off criticism from activists who say he's alienated the city's progressives — most notably for his support of a $115 million police and firefighter training center derided by opponents as ''Cop City.''

''The city got stabilized during my term, unified during my term, and is on a path that everybody can want to come here to raise a family,'' Dickens told The Associated Press in an interview.

Emory University law professor Fred Smith Jr. said Dickens has been an ''energizing force,'' adding he ramped up affordable housing construction and helped thwart efforts for Atlanta's wealthiest neighborhood to break away from the city.

''In terms of where he has done less well, I think a lot of folks who pay close attention to Atlanta government don't feel heard, especially on issues related to transit and the public training center,'' Smith said.

Big days ahead

Atlanta is one of 16 cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with a preview this summer when it hosts six matches of the FIFA Club World Cup, another international soccer tournament.

The games will bring more traffic to the increasingly packed city. Like past mayors, Dickens has been slow to expand public transportation. He backed away from plans to build a light rail line along the city's Eastside Beltline trail, saying shifting to other projects will help higher-need areas. Those are expected to take years to complete.

Regardless, Dickens insisted Atlanta will have a ''very festive time'' during the World Cup with repaved roads and upgraded lighting.

''I want people to leave knowing our culture, having supported our small businesses, having experienced Atlanta so that they might want to come back as a vacation or bring their business here, open an office here,'' Dickens said.

Housing boosts

Dickens promised to build or preserve 20,000 affordable housing units over two terms.

Over half have been built or are under construction. Most are rentals and around three-quarters are for people making 60% or less of the midpoint household income, which was $85,880, according to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau figures. Some are on government-owned land or part of neighborhood redevelopments with mixed-income housing.

Even as it builds, Atlanta is quickly losing affordable units as wealthier people move in and push poorer, longtime residents out, a pattern that was accelerated after the Olympics. Dickens acknowledges this obstacle.

Despite investing millions to reduce homelessness and quickly house people, Dickens' administration was criticized in January when a man died after being crushed in his tent by a bulldozer clearing a homeless camp ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events.

Dickens called for rethinking how the city clears encampments, but said they are unsafe for people living there and nearby residents.

Crime and controversy

Another top priority for Dickens was reducing crime, which spiked in Atlanta and other U.S. cities during the pandemic and later fell. From 2023 to 2024, overall violent crime in Atlanta fell by 46%, and youth crime dropped by 23%, law enforcement officials said at a recent press conference with Dickens.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum credited Dickens with raising officers' pay and letting them take home patrol cars, saying the moves retained more officers and halved 911 response times. Dickens also launched sports and job programs for thousands of young people to take a ''holistic'' approach to crime.

Then there's ''Cop City.''

Dickens has supported the training center since he was a council member, saying Atlanta would benefit from better-trained police.

But the project became a flashpoint for progressive activists who argued it would further militarize police and damage the environment of an adjacent Black neighborhood. Tensions rose when a protester was killed by police who argued they had shot at them.

Efforts to ''diminish and vilify'' the training center's critics have created a ''deep, deep, deep mistrust between people who could have been this mayor's greatest allies'' and Dickens' office, said Rohit Malhotra, founder of the Center for Civic Innovation, a progressive group that sought a voter referendum to reject the construction.

Water woes and an oversight fight

Last May, a burst pipe deprived many Atlantans of water for days, and Dickens was slammed for poor communication. He now says plans are underway to fix the city's aging water and sewer system.

The city's inspector general resigned in February following a long-running feud with Dickens. She accused him of trying to thwart her oversight of City Hall. He said her methods broke the law.

Dickens said he hopes to mend relationships with his critics.

''The unifier in me is going to use the power of being a second-term mayor to bring everybody into the group project,'' Dickens said.

___

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.