Mohammed Kasim Reed (born June 10, 1969) is an American attorney and
politician who is the 59th and current mayor of Atlanta, Georgia's state capital and largest city.
A Democrat, Reed was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002 and represented the 35th District in the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2009. He served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin's successful Atlanta mayoral campaign in 2001. After Franklin was term limited from the mayor's office, Reed successfully ran for the position in 2009. Inaugurated on January 4, 2010, Reed was elected to a second term in 2013.
Reed was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, but his family moved to Fulton County, Georgia, when he was an infant. He was born and raised in a United Methodist household. His father had considered converting to Islam around the time the boy was born, during the early years of desegregation, and named his son Mohammed Kasim, to the consternation of his minister grandfather. Reed graduated from Fulton County's Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School, now Westlake High School.
According to a DNA analysis, he is a descendant through African ancestral lines of the Igbo people of Nigeria.
A month before the February 5, 2008 Super Tuesday Georgia Democratic primary, Reed endorsed Barack Obama.[40] In March 2008, Reed announced an exploratory committee, named ONE Atlanta, to investigate his viability as a candidate in the 2009 Atlanta mayoral election.Two-term incumbent Mayor Franklin was term limited and could not run again. His exploratory committee announcement was coupled with an announcement that he would be pursuing a Hillary Clinton-style coalition-building tour. During the summer of 2008, ONE Atlanta announced that the exploratory committee had become a formal campaign committee.
On September 1 Reed resigned from the Georgia Senate to run for mayor. No candidate won a majority in the November 3 general election, and Donzella James defeated Torrey O. Johnson in the runoff election on December 1 to replace Reed.
In the November 3, 2009 election, Reed qualified for a December 1 runoff election against Mary Norwood. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reed had a winning majority in the runoff election that seemed destined to be contested by a recount. The New York Times described the race as too close to call with 98 to 99 percent of the votes counted and Reed leading by only 620 of the 84,000 votes cast. On December 9 after the completion of a recount Reed was declared the winner by a margin of 714 votes, after which Mary Norwood officially conceded. Reed took office on January 4, 2010.
Thomas Friedman has praised Reed in the New York Times for balancing the city's budget by limiting the pensions of city employees. This money was instead spent on the police force, as well as on community centers in poor neighborhoods (rather than on reversing the 42% increase in property taxes passed in 2009). He praises Reed as "combining a soft touch with a hard head."
Reed announced his campaign for re-election as mayor on August 26, 2013. He was elected to a second term on November 5, 2013.
Reed came to national attention for his support of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Democratic Party nomination for president. A column published under his name on CNN.com saying that Clinton's main opponent was "out of step" with Democrats was written by Tharon Johnson, a lobbyist for the UnitedHealth Group, Honda, MGM Resorts International and other corporate clients. It was then edited by Correct the Record, a Clinton superpac, before publication.
Mayor Reed's civic leadership and service have been nationally recognized in publications such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Ebony, and Black Enterprise. He was selected as one of Georgia Trend magazine's "40 under 40 Rising Stars" in 2001, one of "10 Outstanding Atlantans" in Outstanding Atlanta, a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2000, and a Board Member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. 2011, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Laws from Oglethorpe University.
Atlanta
Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,522,942 people and the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta was established in 1837 at the intersection of two railroad lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. In the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, during which the city earned a reputation as "too busy to hate" for the progressive views of its citizens and leaders, Atlanta attained international prominence. Atlanta is the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States, via highway, railroad, and air, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998.
Atlanta is an "alpha-" or "world city", exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, research, technology, education, media, art, and entertainment. It ranks 36th among world cities and 8th in the nation with a gross domestic product of $270 billion. Atlanta's economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors including logistics, professional and business services, media operations, and information technology. Topographically, Atlanta is marked by rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlanta's neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the city's demographics, politics, and culture.
A Democrat, Reed was a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1998 to 2002 and represented the 35th District in the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2009. He served as campaign manager for Shirley Franklin's successful Atlanta mayoral campaign in 2001. After Franklin was term limited from the mayor's office, Reed successfully ran for the position in 2009. Inaugurated on January 4, 2010, Reed was elected to a second term in 2013.
Reed was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, but his family moved to Fulton County, Georgia, when he was an infant. He was born and raised in a United Methodist household. His father had considered converting to Islam around the time the boy was born, during the early years of desegregation, and named his son Mohammed Kasim, to the consternation of his minister grandfather. Reed graduated from Fulton County's Utoy Springs Elementary School and Westwood High School, now Westlake High School.
According to a DNA analysis, he is a descendant through African ancestral lines of the Igbo people of Nigeria.
A month before the February 5, 2008 Super Tuesday Georgia Democratic primary, Reed endorsed Barack Obama.[40] In March 2008, Reed announced an exploratory committee, named ONE Atlanta, to investigate his viability as a candidate in the 2009 Atlanta mayoral election.Two-term incumbent Mayor Franklin was term limited and could not run again. His exploratory committee announcement was coupled with an announcement that he would be pursuing a Hillary Clinton-style coalition-building tour. During the summer of 2008, ONE Atlanta announced that the exploratory committee had become a formal campaign committee.
On September 1 Reed resigned from the Georgia Senate to run for mayor. No candidate won a majority in the November 3 general election, and Donzella James defeated Torrey O. Johnson in the runoff election on December 1 to replace Reed.
In the November 3, 2009 election, Reed qualified for a December 1 runoff election against Mary Norwood. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reed had a winning majority in the runoff election that seemed destined to be contested by a recount. The New York Times described the race as too close to call with 98 to 99 percent of the votes counted and Reed leading by only 620 of the 84,000 votes cast. On December 9 after the completion of a recount Reed was declared the winner by a margin of 714 votes, after which Mary Norwood officially conceded. Reed took office on January 4, 2010.
Thomas Friedman has praised Reed in the New York Times for balancing the city's budget by limiting the pensions of city employees. This money was instead spent on the police force, as well as on community centers in poor neighborhoods (rather than on reversing the 42% increase in property taxes passed in 2009). He praises Reed as "combining a soft touch with a hard head."
Reed announced his campaign for re-election as mayor on August 26, 2013. He was elected to a second term on November 5, 2013.
Reed came to national attention for his support of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Democratic Party nomination for president. A column published under his name on CNN.com saying that Clinton's main opponent was "out of step" with Democrats was written by Tharon Johnson, a lobbyist for the UnitedHealth Group, Honda, MGM Resorts International and other corporate clients. It was then edited by Correct the Record, a Clinton superpac, before publication.
Mayor Reed's civic leadership and service have been nationally recognized in publications such as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Ebony, and Black Enterprise. He was selected as one of Georgia Trend magazine's "40 under 40 Rising Stars" in 2001, one of "10 Outstanding Atlantans" in Outstanding Atlanta, a member of the Leadership Georgia Class of 2000, and a Board Member of the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund. 2011, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Laws from Oglethorpe University.
Atlanta
Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,522,942 people and the ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta was established in 1837 at the intersection of two railroad lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. In the decades following the Civil Rights Movement, during which the city earned a reputation as "too busy to hate" for the progressive views of its citizens and leaders, Atlanta attained international prominence. Atlanta is the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States, via highway, railroad, and air, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998.
Atlanta is an "alpha-" or "world city", exerting a significant impact upon commerce, finance, research, technology, education, media, art, and entertainment. It ranks 36th among world cities and 8th in the nation with a gross domestic product of $270 billion. Atlanta's economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors including logistics, professional and business services, media operations, and information technology. Topographically, Atlanta is marked by rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlanta's neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the city's demographics, politics, and culture.
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