State Rep. Margaret Kaiser mulls mayoral run in 2017

• Georgia House of Representatives
• Margaret Kaiser, Atlanta’s next mayor?

Don’t you just hate it when reporters start to talk about who’s jumping in the next big political race? Especially journalists who have just wrapped up a year’s worth of election coverage? We do too. So we’re going to skip past the 2016 presidential election... right on over to the 2017 mayoral race!

Yes, we know it’s early to discuss who will succeed Mayor Kasim Reed, who is limited to two terms. But we’re starting now because two of the biggest issues to keep your eyes on at City Hall — the infrastructure bond package and annexation skirmishes — will begin to take shape in early 2015. On top of that there’s the annual budget fight and the usual slate of legislation. Potential mayoral candidates will introduce ambitious proposals and jostle for the right kinds of attention as they prepare to launch their citywide bids. And other men and women who are currently not serving in City Hall positions will chime in as well.

No mayoral candidates have formally launched a campaign yet. But there are plenty of people who we’re told are mulling a potential run. One nearly became mayor in 2009 (Atlanta City Councilwoman Mary Norwood). Three others have Council ties (Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, Councilman Kwanza Hall, and former Councilwoman Cathy Woolard). And one more worked for Reed and just received an influential board seat (former Chief Operating Officer Peter Aman). There’s no strong favorite right now: some sources consider Mitchell to be the early frontrunner; most consider the race to be wide open.

There’s also one person outside City Hall who’s weighing her options: Margaret Kaiser. The four-term Democratic state rep, whose district includes a swath of Fulton County running from East Point up to Poncey-Highland, recently told CL that she’s thinking about throwing her hat into the race.

“I want to consider my options,” Kaiser said in an interview last week. “But if I run, it’s going to be because I think I would be a damn good mayor.”

Kaiser, a restaurateur who along with her husband owns Grant Central, Grant Central East Pizza, and Tomatillos, wouldn’t be the first mayor in her family if she decides to run. Her mother, Nancy Denson, is currently mayor of Athens, Ga., and has worked in politics dating back to the ’80s. But the Grant Park resident said she’ll only run if the timing’s right “for her family and the city of Atlanta.”

Kaiser said that right now she’s largely concerned about the future of the neighborhoods surrounding Turner Field and the future development of the site once the Atlanta Braves leave for Cobb County in 2017. She wants to help the city become a more bike-friendly place. And she’d like to see Downtown become a more communal neighborhood that attracts meaningful investment. Those initiatives are a lot easier to make happen when you’re in the mayor’s office and not at the Gold Dome.

“I think Atlanta’s got an interesting situation in its grasp right now,” Kaiser said during last week’s discussion. “...But Charlotte’s surpassing Atlanta in Downtown growth. They’re investing in Downtown infrastructure, which includes transit, and city of Atlanta is not.”

She also expressed some hesitations over how the issue of race could play out in the city’s upcoming mayoral campaign. Black mayors have run Atlanta for more than four decades since Maynard Jackson first took office in 1974. Kaiser is also aware that no white woman has ever served as the city’s mayor — Shirley Franklin is the only woman to serve in the role. Kaiser endorsed uber-campaigner Mary Norwood, who lost against Reed by a roughly 700-vote margin in a runoff, in 2009.

But then again, Kaiser has also represented a majority-minority district in which she defeated former state Rep. Douglas Dean, an African-American Democrat, in 2006. So there’s that.

“I think I’d be a great mayor,” Kaiser said. “I just worry about the political strife that we have right now in Atlanta. I don’t want to create a further racial divide. At the same time, I will say that I represent a district that’s majority-minority. They don’t care if I’m polka-dotted. But I try to be cognizant of the fact... if Atlanta’s ready for a white mayor. I don’t think Atlanta really cares. But I want to be cognizant.”

The role that the city’s shifting demographics will play are worth paying to attention in 2017. Most political observers will be watching to see if Georgia becomes a majority-minority state in the coming years. Though it’s far less discussed, the exact opposite is projected to happen in Atlanta. The city’s African-American population, which fell from 67 percent in 1990 to 54 percent in 2010, could someday no longer be the majority.

It’s debatable how much changing demographics such as race, age, and gender — and what people value in political candidates — will play a role in who leads the city. And three years is a long way away. But it’s already on people’s minds.