Marci Collier Overstreet declares victory in Atlanta City Council president race

By 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, the two-term council member appeared to be the winner by a slim margin with more than 100,000 votes cast.

However, the final result is complicated by an unknown number of provisional ballots that were cast in the city of Atlanta elections because of the statewide Public Service Commission races. But those votes are not likely to be enough for Malhotra to make up the difference.

Overstreet also declared victory on social media early Wednesday morning, thanking Atlanta voters for making her the next City Council president.

“I’m feeling like Atlanta got it right,” Overstreet said from her suite at the Hyatt after all the votes were counted, signaling her victory.

But Overstreet also acknowledged that a large swath of voters who supported her opponent have a different perspective on how the city should be run.

“Almost 50% of Atlanta would like for us to do something different,” she said. “I think that that alone is enough for me to listen.”

Malhotra spoke to supporters at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at The Eastern in east Atlanta, a stronghold for the Grant Park resident. He did not concede the race at that time, saying it was too close to call.

“Nobody thought we even had a shot,” Malhotra said. “We built a team, but more importantly, we built a movement. We told people that Atlanta is worth fighting for.

“Remember we were, we are pushing a boulder up a very large hill.”

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

Overstreet’s win represents a victory for Atlanta establishment politics, including Dickens as he enters a second term now with a staunch ally overseeing council proceedings.

The council president doesn’t vote or introduce legislation but is responsible for running meetings; making key committee appointments; casting tiebreaking votes on legislation; and filling in if the mayor is unable to serve.

The race between Overstreet and Malhotra highlighted both the parameters and possibilities of the role, with Overstreet warning on the campaign trail of disruptions to City Hall’s political status quo and Malhotra advocating for change.

When current Council President Doug Shipman announced he would not seek reelection this year, Overstreet said she was encouraged by her colleagues to launch a bid for the job.

Throughout her campaign, Overstreet touted support from a majority of council members and her close relationship with the mayor as key to keeping city progress made in the past four years moving forward.

“We have a vision and we’re going in the right direction,” she said during an October interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I’m a consensus builder,” she said. “And that is the most important thing, I believe, that the council president has to do: is to set the tone and demeanor and consensus for the city of Atlanta.”

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

The southwest Atlanta native is a graduate of Benjamin E Mays High School and has a journalism degree from Georgia State University. She first took office as the District 11 council member in 2018 after Keisha Lance Bottoms left the post to run for mayor.

Overstreet points to legislation to combat food insecurity, advocacy to speed up construction of the years-long Cascade Road Complete Street project and efforts to bolster city employee rights during debate over the city’s Office of the Inspector General as major successes during her council tenure.

She has also consistently supported increased investment in law enforcement — including the city’s public safety training center — and been an outspoken critic of MARTA, Atlanta’s embattled transit agency that has a track record of butting heads with elected officials.

Atlanta’s legislative leaders face big challenges in the next four years like supporting the city as it hosts the upcoming FIFA World Cup, finding funds to backfill major financial losses caused by Trump administration grant rollbacks and how to execute the mayor’s transit visions — that includes building light rail along the Beltline’s Southside trail.

Overstreet said that delivering on the city’s infrastructure projects that have taken years to roll out would be a top priority for her as president.

“I really want us to make sure that we are looking at every corner of the city of Atlanta and talk about project delivery — things that we’ve already paid for as taxpayers," she said Wednesday morning.

“Can you imagine a world in Atlanta where we’re actually delivering our projects that we picked out carefully? Atlanta would be even more special than it is right now.”