President Joe Biden Taps Keisha Lance Bottoms To Head The White House Office Of Public Engagement
President Joe Biden has tapped former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace Cedric Richmond, a former congressman from the Bayou State, as the next Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Richmond left the position in April.
Lance Bottoms confirmed the news after Axios reportedly dropped the scoop first on Tuesday evening (June 14).
In an Instagram post, the 52-year-old democratic pundit simply captioned a screenshot of the publication’s announcement with the word, “Honored.”
According to the White House’s official website, the Office of Public Engagement “works at the local, state, and national levels to ensure community leaders, diverse perspectives, and new voices all have the opportunity to inform the work of the President. Creating and maintaining a two-way dialogue between the administration and communities across the nation ensures that voices are heard and that concerns can be translated into action across the administration.”
As the director, Lance Bottoms would serve as the liaison between the American people and the president. Given the former city leader’s unexpected alliance with the 46th Commander-in-Chief (he considered the Georgia State University College of Law alumna to be his potential vice-presidential running mate during his presidential campaign in 2020), she would have a direct line to Biden.
In a statement, Biden said, “Mayor Bottoms understands that democracy is about making government work for working families, for the people who are the backbone of this country. She led the city of Atlanta with strength through the pandemic, through a summer of protests and pain, and through the mass shooting that left Atlanta’s Asian American community in fear. Keisha is bright, honorable, tough and has the integrity required to represent our Administration to the American public. Jill and I have known Keisha for a long time and look forward to working with her more closely."
In return, Biden would be adding another brilliant Black woman to his administration that would provide judicious and shrewd expertise and also elevate his ranking with respect to minorities.
Lance Bottoms’ appointment would essentially allow her to “listen” and make “people feel their voices are reflected and their voices are heard-" within the White House Administration, especially with hot-button issues like rising inflation and battles within Congress.
She would serve through the midterms.
