Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Keisha Lance Bottom Talks Georgia Governor Race, Rick Jackson, Being Atlanta's Former Mayor, Political Messaging + More

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INTERVIEW: Keisha Lance Bottom Talks Georgia Governor Race, Rick Jackson, Being Atlanta's Former Mayor, Political Messaging + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hold up. Every day I wake up.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. Y'all finished or
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: y'all done? Morning, everybody.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's DJ Envy, Just Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The Breakfast Club. Lorna Rose is here as well. Also
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: our sister, Miss Angela Rye. And we got a special
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: guest in the building. We have Miss Keisha Lance Bottoms.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Welcome.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: I am so happy to be here.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: How are you feeling this morning?
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: I am feeling good. It's great to be here, as always.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Why Rick Jackson keep ducking these debates, man? What's up
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: with that?
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: What is he scared of?
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: What is he scared of, Ms. Bottles?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: He wants to hide behind his money. The one interaction
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: that we did have, he was shaking in his boots.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: So he wants to spend his millions of dollars to
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: protect his billions of dollars, and he won't face people.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: He won't face me on the stage and let people
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: hear from him directly. He is running all sorts of ads. Mailers,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: he's put almost $ 100 million up on TV alone, largest
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: ad buy in the state's history.
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: So this is the last of six that he's avoided
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: in terms of debates. In this last one, you're going
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: to be able to deliver an address on affordability?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I will, because that is the number one issue across
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: the state of Georgia, really across the country. It's not
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: a hoax. Everywhere we go, people are talking about the
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: cost of living. They're talking about housing issues. They're talking
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: about groceries. They're talking about the price of health care.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: You now, of course, have students saying they can't access
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: the loans they need to complete school. And it is
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the energy is something that I've never felt before in
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: my life in politics. There's a lot of anxiety, but
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: there's also this quiet determination. People are like, I don't
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: care what I'm seeing on TV. I'm still going to
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: vote and it's not going to deter me.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Why do you think a billionaire, Slick Rick, would want
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: to run for governor in Georgia?
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Like, for what reason? You're a billionaire.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: What do you think his reason is? He says that—
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: And I call him Slick Rick because she calls him
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Slick Rick.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and someone said that's offensive to Slick Rick. It's
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: so offensive to Slick Rick. I'm so sorry, Slick Rick,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: but it just— Rick Jackson, all right. I couldn't help
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: it because he is Slick Rick. I mean, this guy
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: has a long history of just not treating people fairly.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: He's been accused of human trafficking. He's paid a fine
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: for that. He's paid a fine for Medicare fraud. He has,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: I mean, this guy is a long litany, but to
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: answer your question on that, he's spending millions to protect
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: his billions. This guy got a no-bid contract for almost
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: a billion dollars in the middle of COVID, and it
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: has been extended each year. So when he says he
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: wants to be Trump with a Southern tone, he wants
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: to be Trump favorite governor, he's pulling a page out
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: of Trump's playbook. He needs to protect his money, and
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: he's going to spend whatever he needs to do to
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: try and do that. But I've said repeatedly, this guy
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: may have the money, but we still have the power.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: In May in the primary, we outvoted Republicans by 150,000 votes,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: and he put in 100 million at that time. And
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: what people need to understand, so goes Georgia, so goes
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the South. And so goes the South, goes the country.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And it's not a purity test this year. I'm not
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: a perfect candidate. Nobody is perfect. But who is going
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: to fight on behalf of you and your community? And
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: I've shown time and time again I'm willing to do that.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: When you talk about affordability, right, like what can a
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: governor actually do about affordability as opposed to just telling
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: people I.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Feel your pain?
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right. And I've given a lot of thought
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: to that. So part of it has been looking at
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: things that I know have been successful. When I was
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: mayor of Atlanta, we created an affordable housing trust fund
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: to help people with property taxes and to help give
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: people down payment assistance and rent assistance, giving us flexibility.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: I want to do that statewide. But also I want
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: to suspend or end where local budgets can absorb it,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: the grocery tax. That sounds really simplistic, but it will
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: go a long way. Everybody needs food daily. And also
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: we tax diapers and feminine hygiene products in Georgia. I
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: want to end that.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: I think that's so important. I do want to ask you,
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: you talked about being mayor. When you ran, everybody's like,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: mayor named Keisha. So now potentially governor named Keisha, but
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: you also have city council experience. Were appointed by President Biden.
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: So I've had federal experience as well. And of course,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: you're an attorney. So can you talk about how these
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: experiences are going to shape your agenda as governor?
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And I also had an opportunity to serve as
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: a judge, Angela. And for me, with each phase of
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: my life has given me an opportunity really to bring
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: all of me to that position. So Angela, I know
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: you know the story of my dad being incarcerated. Yeah.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: And my dad struggled with addiction. So when I was
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: a judge, it was an opportunity to see men who
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: stood before me, not based on their worst mistake, but
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: what was the best possibility for them, offering them alternatives
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: where appropriate. When I had an opportunity to serve as
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: mayor of Atlanta and city council, I saw people like
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: my mother who, you know, worked two jobs struggling to
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: make ends meet and just sometimes needed somebody to stand
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: in the gap so that, me and my brother and
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: my sister could be healthy and whole and seen after.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: And when I had an opportunity to serve in the
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: White House and you and I sat around the table
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: many times there, being able to bring all of that
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: into the White House so that when the president looked
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: at me and said, Keisha, what do you think? I mean,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I knew I was representing not just me, but the
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: entire being of who I am in that moment. And
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: that's the same thing I'm bringing to this race as governor.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: I'm a fifth generation Georgian. We can trace our roots
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: to a plantation in Crawfordville, Georgia. So I know how
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: far we have come. I know how far things can
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: go backwards because we're seeing it play out nationally. And
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: I know the possibilities. And I just want better. I
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: want better for us as a state. I want better
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: opportunities across the boards.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: At this point in your life, because you hear your resume,
• 6:45
  Speaker 5: is running for governor about ambition, service?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: What are you trying to prove?
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: No, not at all. You know, I was living a nice,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: free life.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Nice, free.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I was free. And after the presidential election, I really
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: began to pray about what am I called to do
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: in this season? And for me, it was really uncomfortable
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: knowing Because, you know, I was doing things that free
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: people do, traveling, and I wrote a book and produced
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: a show and all these things that you can do
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: when you're not in public service. But this is not
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: a time for any of us to be comfortable. This is,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: I mean, we're fighting for our lives right now in
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: this country. And I didn't want to sit back and
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: say I didn't do everything that I could do in
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: this moment.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: I remember when you were in office in Atlanta and
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: you have conversations about how you had to protect yourself
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: a bit differently.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: You're going to make history once you win. Right.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: That protection will happen again. Are you ready to enter
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: back into that? Is your family ready for that as well, too?
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: I saw the confrontation as well outside of the or
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: the you addressing Rick Jackson outside of the hotel, too.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of already starting, but. Yeah, it is.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: And what I said to him, for those who hadn't
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: seen it, I said.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I'll slap the shit out of you. Damn.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: Well, that's what I was thinking. I said, you know,
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: I'm fair game, but stay away from my family because
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: he's trying to distract people coming after my family. They've
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: come after my kids. My kids are a lot older
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: than when I served as mayor. And he has even
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: clipped my time here the last time I was here.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: That's one of his commercials. You know, he manipulates the facts.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: He misleads.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: That happened a couple times. That happened a couple times.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: They got got real bad.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's happened a bunch of times.
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, I mean, and so we'll see
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: what he takes from today. But what I hope he
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: takes from today is, is that people are showing up,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: and no matter how much you lie, no matter how
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: much you try and spend your money to stop us,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: people are going to show up and vote. We showed
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: it in the primary in May, and we're going to
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: show it this November. Again, this guy's put $ 200 million
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: of his own money up, and even with that, we
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: are tied in this race.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: You know, the other thing I think is so important
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: is Georgia. is the hotbed for voter intimidation. That's right.
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: You know, they try to tell folks if they passed
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: out water bottles in an election, they would be charged with,
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: I think it was a misdemeanor. When you talk about him,
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump calling and saying, find me some votes, Fannie
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: Willis goes after him, and now she is, you know,
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: before ethics committees at the state legislature. The FBI earlier
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: this year raiding Fulton County for election records related back
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: to that same election in 2020.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Still talking about 2020.
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: And your opponent is calling on Governor Kemp to bring
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: the National Guard out for this election. Talk about how
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: strategically you're working with the black community and others who
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: care about voter protection. to navigate all that going into
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: this election.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and what's interesting with that, as you all know,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: when you call in the National Guard, that's in case
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: of an emergency. So what is he projecting? So what
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: we're telling people, first of all, voter registration ends October 5th.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Early voting begins October 13th. We got to treat every
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: single day of early voting as if it is election
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: day because we don't know what disruptions are in store.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: And we're asking people even just to be the ambassador
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: for your household. If you're in Georgia, make sure everybody
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: is still on the voting rolls because hundreds of thousands
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: of people have been purged and they don't know it
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: until they show up. You can do that going to
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: our website, keishaforgovernor.com backslash vote or check Iwillvote.com. It'll give
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: you a link. Making sure everybody is registered, making sure
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: everybody votes. And then if you're not in Georgia, everybody
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: knows somebody in Georgia. Everybody got a cousin, auntie, friend, somebody.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: And even if it's just sending them a text message saying, hey.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Did you check your status? Make sure you vote. And
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: then I'll just add this. You think about 2018, Georgia,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: the difference between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp winning were
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: 21 votes per precinct, 21 votes per precinct. So even
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: if you call five people or text 10 people, think
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: of the difference that turnout can make.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: You know, when I hear I'll be like Trump with
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: a Southern tone or, I'm going to be Trump's favorite governor.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: Does that frustrate you when you see what Trump has
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: done to America and what he continues to do, but
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: you still see people saying, you know, voting for Rick
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Jackson or looking at Rick Jackson when he's telling you,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I'll be Trump with a Southern tone.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: I'll be Trump's favorite governor.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Does that frustrate you at all?
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: What frustrates me is when people don't believe him when
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: he tells them.
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: Who he is.
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: People believe that, some people believe that it's just an act.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Some people, I mean, didn't we go through this with Trump?
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: That's what frustrates me. This man is telling you what
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: he's going to do. Even when Trump came to Georgia last,
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: he dressed like Trump. It looked like my kids on Easter. Yeah,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: on the same shade of blue, a red tie. Look
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: at the picture. This guy wants to be Donald Trump.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: And he has told us that he's not even hiding
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: it in this primary. He is now trying to run
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: back to the middle, but, and he's particularly, you know,
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: trying to pull on, on the heartstrings of people saying,
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: I grew up in the projects and, and, and whatever
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: he says his story is. And I'll, I'll leave that
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: to other people to determine whether or not the truth
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: of that story. And then, I'll leave that alone. But
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: my point being, we just shouldn't be so easily swayed
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: by somebody who is telling us he wants to mimic
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: the behavior of a man who is wreaking havoc in
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: this country. I agree.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: You mentioned Stacey Abrams, right? What have you learned? What
• 13:13
  Speaker 5: did you learn from Stacey Abrams' campaign?
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: So not just Stacey's campaign, but looking at the last
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: presidential race, all of them, we're taking all the data
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: and we're going to keep, What worked well and then
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: we're going to improve on what didn't. What we know
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: is you got to be on the ground knocking on
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: doors and talking to people. And we've got to make
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: sure that people in their respective communities are talking on
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: our behalf. And this is not a slight to any
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: one particular campaign. It's just what we know we need
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: to do. that people have to feel a connection with
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: the campaigns. And quite honestly, I can tell you, financially
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: for us, with him having so much more money than
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: we do, it is challenging because you got to pay people.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Volunteers are great, but you need to be able to
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: pay people. You want to have signs out. You want
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: to have commercials up. You want to be able to
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: do all these things. And I'll just put this plug
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: in while I'm here. If you want to support You
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: can do it at Keisha4Governor. com. It's real easy. Whether you're
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: sending $ 5 or $ 100 or a million dollars, it will
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: go a long way.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Is Stacey assisting you or helping you?
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: Stacey and I chatted a few weeks ago. So we're
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: trying to figure out, you know, the best way to
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: make sure she's activated and engaged. I know that she's
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: been talking a lot about turnout and helping encourage people
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: to turn out and vote. And that's really important.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I'm curious to know if you've seen any real differences
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: in folks who are in the rural parts of Georgia
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: versus folks who are in more urban areas about their
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: top issues. Have you seen any real distinctions?
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: You know, Angela, what's really struck me is that the
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: issues are the same. The starting point for the solutions
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: are different. Mm-hmm. Everybody wants great access to health care.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: We've not expanded Medicaid in Georgia. So 300,000 people before
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: the big ugly bill didn't have health care. Everybody wants
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: great schools. Everybody wants great jobs. Everybody wants their parents
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: to be able to age with dignity. Everybody wants to
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: be able to afford a home. Like those themes are consistent.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: It's just how do we get there? There are some
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: communities in the state that we've gone into and people
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: have rightfully asked, what are you going to do for me?
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: Y'all come in at election time. I don't hear from
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: you again. Nothing about my life has changed. You go
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: not through these communities, but into some communities. It looks
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: like you've walked into a time machine. Yeah. Because there's
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: been no economic development. The young people are leaving. First
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: opportunity they get. And this is, again, a story. I
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: know it's the story of Georgia. I would imagine it's
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: happening across the country.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: You were talking about, you know, a care plan for
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: a healthier Georgia, right? And talking to a lot of
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: older people, a lot of times they say that the
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: medicine that they have is old because that's all the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: insurance company will cover. What's your plan to make sure that, one,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: older people will get the health coverage they deserve, younger
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: people will get the health coverage they deserve, especially when
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: they can't afford it. They can't afford the rates. They
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: can't afford the co-pays.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: And all that.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: That's right. So providing even mobile health clinics in some
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: of our communities would go a long way. I was
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: talking to some of our transportation companies yesterday. Even in
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: our rural communities, some of the transportation companies won't even
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: go down unpaved roads to pick up people and take
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: them to the doctor. It's the reason I keep talking
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: about Medicaid expansion because especially in our rural communities, you've
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: got doctors leaving these communities because they can't make a
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: living in these communities. Then you add on top of
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: that the six-week abortion ban, and it just makes it
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: really complicated. At the end of the day, it's about
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: providing quality access to care in a way that people
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: can afford it, making sure in that plan, and don't
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: want to get too policy wonkish, but that we've got
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: a way to review prescription costs and reduce those costs,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: and just making sure we're able to deliver services to
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: people where they are and in a way that they
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: need and deserve to have them.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: What do you think you got wrong as mayor?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: What do I think I got wrong as mayor? I
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: would have made changes in my senior leadership earlier, and
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: this is not a slight to anybody who served on
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: my team, but every leader has a different style. I
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: waited until day 100. I worked with a lot of
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: leaders while I was on city council, and I, you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: thought that They would be great for me as mayor,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: but being mayor and being a member of city council,
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: two different things, two different beasts. I also, one of
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: the lessons that I really learned, you know, I go
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: back to the African proverb, if you want to go fast,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: go alone. If you want to go far, take others. Because...
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: In an effort to get things done quickly, I didn't
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: always give everybody buy-in. Quickly and efficiently, didn't always give
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: everybody buy-in. And then just the other thing I would say,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: and I have the benefit of this because my kids
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: are older now, but recognizing the divide, the generational divide.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: what translates one way to one group of people may
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: not translate to another group. What makes sense to one
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: group may not make sense to another group and not,
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: not assuming that everybody wants good government too. Everybody doesn't want,
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: sometimes people just, just want to be heard. Sometimes people
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: just want to be involved. Sometimes people just want to
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: have a seat at the table. Um, so there, I,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: I have grown tremendously since I even ran for mayor.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: That was in 2016, 2017. Mm-hmm. So I'm older, wiser, better.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: Some of the policy agenda, everybody's policy agenda, include items
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: that have to involve participation and partnership with the federal government.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: Of course, we talked about your federal experience already. How
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: do you see yourself, bless you, how do you see
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: yourself working with the Trump administration? Is there a cabinet
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: secretary where you're like, okay, I know I could at
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: least cut through with this person, or is there someone
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: in his orbit? We know, of course, recently Hakeem Jeffries
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: caught a lot of backlash for meeting with Jared Kushner.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: Donnie's on his second meeting with Trump. Can you see
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: yourself meeting with any of them to get something done
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: for Georgia?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I just want to tell people, you know,
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: don't freak out when you see people talking to people
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: across the aisle. Sometimes you got to sit down and
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: have conversations to be able to get things done, to
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: be able to deliver. I've been talking to governors across
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: the country. How are you working with this administration? Some
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: have said, I just stay out of the way, just
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: keep my head down, stay out of the way. Some
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: have decided to take a more confrontational approach. I'm going
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: to work with anybody who's willing to do right by
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: the people of Georgia. And if if it means, you know,
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: the first Trump administration, there were some people you could
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: talk to in that White House and identify those people yet.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: But God willing, when I'm elected, we're going to find
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: out who they are and see what we are able
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: to get done together. But to the extent is not
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: working on behalf of the people of Georgia. And I
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: need to push back and I need to fight back.
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: I'll do it in the same way I did it
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: when I was mayor.
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: You worked in the White House, you worked with Biden.
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: What did being inside the federal government teach you about
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: why Washington seems to be so disconnected from just regular, everyday,
• 21:13
  Speaker 5: working-class people's lives?
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: I think it's just that, Charlamagne. I think it's a disconnect.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: When you go into that White House, I know you've
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: been in there, it is like you're going into a vortex,
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: like you're going into a tunnel. And for me, it
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: was because I would go home every week that I
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: would sit in the Roosevelt Room right outside the Oval Office,
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: and I would sit in the Oval Office, and everything
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: sounds good in the lab. And then when you go
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: out and you talk to real people, when you're talking
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: to people who are completely disconnected, it gives you a
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: completely different perspective. And because the work of the White
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: House is so important, so intense and all-consuming, it is
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: easy to get consumed by groupthink, but... the most important
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: thing you can do is stay in touch with regular,
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: everyday people. I would go home, like, what does my
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: mama think of this? What is she and her friends
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: talking about? How is this translating? And that was always
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: a great balance for me.
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: Well, that's crazy to me, though, because it's like, what
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: are they talking about in there if they're not talking
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: about the people?
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: No, and it's not for a lack of speaking and
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: doing on behalf of the people. But there's so many
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: moving parts. You're dealing with Congress, and you're dealing with CEOs,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: and you're dealing with global leaders. There's a lot going on.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: And what looks good on paper may not always translate
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: to the streets. I always say the streets don't lie.
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: Even with my best posters. Cornell Belcher is my poster.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: Tremendous poster. I'm still like, OK, I see what we
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: came up with. What are the people saying? How do
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: the people feel about this? Like my constant check in
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: with my kids. I got four, two 16 year olds, 18,
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: 24 year old. I'm like, how are y'all feeling about
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: this election? What are y'all talking about? What do y'all
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: care about? Yeah.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: No, I got more. I got more. You know, you
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: decided not to run for a second term as mayor, right?
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: So a lot of people say, what changed in you
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: between walking away from City Hall and deciding you want
• 23:34
  Speaker 5: this much bigger job?
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, my kids were much younger when I
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: was mayor. There was not one single reason. For me,
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I knew it was the best decision for my family
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: and I at that time, and I was really proud.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: of what I had delivered on behalf of the city.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: We had created the child savings account. For kindergartners, we
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: had balanced the budget for years. I mean, we created
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: affordable housing. We had done all these things that I
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: was really proud of, but I knew for me and
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: my family, it was best for me to step out
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: at that time. I didn't even intend on going to
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: the White House. I had turned down the president three
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: times for a cabinet position.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: What made you decide to do it? Because I know,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: you know, during when you were mayor of Atlanta. I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: know they beat you up at certain things. They beat
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: you up about coronavirus and they said the crime spike.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: But then they loved you because, you know, they shut down,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: you shut down the jails for ICE. So what made
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: you finally decide, you know what, I want to jump
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: back into this political game?
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, again, it was for me, I'm a
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: person of faith. It was about praying about what I
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: needed to do in this season. And even when I
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: left the mayor's office, I always said that was a comma,
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: not a period. That I knew that I needed to
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: step out at that moment But I always said, you know,
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: Georgia would always be in my heart. And that one
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: day I may step back in. I just knew for
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: that season. And you got to think about it. You know,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: people who go to work every day, people make career decisions.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: They change jobs. I just did it publicly coming out
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: of COVID. Like a moment for me, honestly, was... realizing
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: I never even saw my kids while the sun was
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: still out when I was mayor. It wasn't until we
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: were all home during the pandemic and I saw them
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: one day and it was daylight. And I'm like, I
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: never see them.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: That's insane.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Before the sun goes down. Like, and at that time
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I had a high school senior, had one in middle school.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: I had two in elementary school. So I'd say, you know,
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: the pandemic was a great, people called it the great resignation.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: I think for a lot of people, including me, it
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: was a great revaluation. And, you know, and I've written
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: about this in the book and I've talked about this.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: My dad died suddenly at 55. And I was experiencing
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: a lot of health issues that I'd never talked about publicly.
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: I was pre-diabetic, pre-hypertension, like pre-glaucoma, chronic inflammation, just a
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: lot of things that I was internalizing. On the other
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: side of it, And I know exactly where I went wrong.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: I know exactly why I was experiencing those things. Because
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: in seeing about the city and seeing about my family,
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: I wasn't seeing about me.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Did the criticism ever bother you?
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: Not really. It didn't. I would get frustrated. Just sometimes
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: it was more personal to me. when it came from
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: people who I thought should have been natural allies. But no,
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: I got thick skin. And when I left the mayor's office,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: my approval rating was at 68%. So I knew if
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: I had run again, I would have won. That's why
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I always say that was a decision from strength, not weakness.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: And I don't regret it.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: I feel like you did all of this for your
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: mental well-being, right?
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: And even writing the book probably during that time and
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: everything probably helped, right?
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: That was really important. Super important. And I've shared this quote,
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: I think, with you all before from my therapist who says,
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: strong people push through and they have heart attacks and
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: strokes and high blood pressure and they die. Powerful people stop.
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: They feel. They learn the lessons. And then and then
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: do they only move on. And for me... You know,
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: preserving mental health is as important as preserving physical health.
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: And I don't have to tell you this. That's not
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: a weakness. That's a strength. It's saying, I don't want
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: my kids to wake up one morning and I'm gone
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: like my daddy. You know, I want to be healthy
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: and whole. I want to be around for them. I
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: want to be the best version of me that I
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: can be for them and for everybody else.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Sorry for your loss, sir.
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Thank you. That was 1994. But as I approached that age, anybody,
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: I was 24 when my dad died, which at 55,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: that seemed kind of old to me.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: That's very young.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: But when you get near an age that you lose
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: a parent, if anybody's ever experienced that, you start thinking
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: about it differently. Definitely.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: I had to Google your age real quick because I'm like,
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I never thought about how old Keisha is. She was
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: 20 when? Let me look that up real quick.
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: I'm curious because you're talking about the balance of winning
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: a race and governing and then winning at life, winning
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: with your family. How are you balancing that now? A
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: gubernatorial job is a lot bigger, a lot more territory
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: to cross and to manage. So how will you win
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: at both?
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: Well, as my husband often says to me, you better
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: prioritize the kids because they're going to make life decisions
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: for you one day. And he's like, that's why my
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: rocking chair is going to face the window and you're
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: going to face the wall. That's funny. But like I said,
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: I've got a 24-year-old, 18-year-old, two 16-year-olds. So they're a
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: very different phase in life, very different than they were
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: when I served as mayor.
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we want to make sure he don't have your
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: rocking chair facing the wall either, though.
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'm going to face me a window. But part
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: of that, you know, it is just about living life
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: in balance, whether you are running for governor, whether you're
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: serving as mayor, whether you, whatever your life is, it's
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: about living it in balance. And that's something I did
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: not do When I was mayor.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: And see, I know you got a hard out, and
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: I want to end on that.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: It's like mentally, emotionally, spiritually, are you prepared to be
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: governor of Georgia?
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: That's what I was going to ask earlier. I am
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: more than prepared. And I'll tell you, Charlemagne, Tanya Miller,
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: who's running for attorney general, said something. We were on
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: a panel together, and she was very well-meaning, and it
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: was a compliment. She's like, nobody's built to withstand $ 87
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: million worth of negative attacks. Mm-hmm. And I thought, am
• 30:26
  Speaker 3: I supposed to be broken? But I'm not. Because I
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: know I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. I wasn't
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: broken when I was mayor. Did I self-reflect? Yes. But outwardly,
• 30:40
  Speaker 3: you know, no. I'm more than prepared. More than able.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: And entering this race was a choice. This is, I
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: could have Continue to press the easy button in the
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: life post serving as mayor. It's a choice to enter this.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: That's how important this race is to me. That's how
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: important it should be to all of us.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Get out there and vote. Tell them how they can donate,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: if they need to donate or be a volunteer, all that.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: KeishaForGovernor.com. K-E-I-S-H-A ForGovernor.com. Again, voter registration deadline is October 5th.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Early voting begins October 13th through the 30th. Don't wait
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: until the last minute. Turnout is going to be key
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: to us winning up and down the ballot in Georgia.
• 31:35
  Speaker 3: Whole ballot energy is what we are calling it. And
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: I just appreciate you all, as always, for that. chatting
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: with me, having me here, and just reminding people how
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: important it is.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you for joining us so much. Make sure
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: you get out there and vote. Keisha Lance Bottom for Governor.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Get out there and vote, vote, vote, vote, vote. And
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: thank you for joining us again.
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning.