Dash for cash: The inside story of Kyle Keyser’s 48-hour scramble to get on the Atlanta mayoral ballot

Kyle Keyser’s surprising announcement that he was running for mayor of Atlanta invigorated an already dramatic campaign race — but it came with a catch.  In order to officially enter the race, Keyser had to raise the $4,425 filing fee to get on the ballot.

And he had to do it in 48 hours.

The following is an account of the emotional days leading up to the announcement and the critical hours that followed in which the unlikely upstart candidate used Facebook, Twitter, Freedom Rock and an iPhone app to rally a community and help him get in the game.

Friday, Aug. 28

6:30 p.m: Keyser speaks at an Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) rally at Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood, held in response to the shooting of a 55-year-old man who was mowing his lawn.

This is when things really started to kick in. There were probably 200 people and I got up to speak at the end, and I just looked out and saw all these eyes looking at me and I just felt this sadness in the community, like they’d been broken by this incident, and a little hurt more so than angry. I thought to myself, “This is eight months from the time I started ATAC.  How many more rallies do there have to be?  How many more people are going to be affected by this?”  That’s when I started to strongly consider running.

Monday, Aug. 31

3:21 p.m.: Facebook update: “ain’t gonna do it.”

I was not going to run at this point. But I was still flirting with the idea; maybe I should do it.

6 p.m.: Keyser speaks at another ATAC rally in front of Vinocity in Kirkwood.

The Monday rally was what put me over. I sat on my pile of signs, cleaning up, and talked to people who attended the rally and lived in the neighborhood. I just felt compelled to do something. I examined the situation and looked at myself and was like, “What can I do to affect the most change?” It was really like a compulsion. I’m like, “I have to do something.”

Then I decided, “I’m gonna do it.”