White House Office of Public Engagement Director Keisha Lance Bottoms announced on Monday that she is stepping down after serving the Biden administration for nearly nine months.
Announcing her departure on Twitter, Bottoms described her tenure in the White House as an “extraordinary season.”
“Term ended in January 2022,” the former mayor of Atlanta wrote in a tweet. “I didn’t take a break, planning to work hard for 6 months and relax over the summer. @WhiteHouse called again in June and I said, “I’ll stay just thru midterms in November.” Months later this extraordinary season soon ends. Thanks family and @POTUS.”
Keisha Lance Bottoms announces departure from White House role https://t.co/5RrHZYjC44
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) February 28, 2023
Bottoms made the decision not to seek re-election as mayor of Atlanta in 2021. The Democrat was initially hired at CNN as a political commentator after her exit from the mayor’s office, but she then declared she would work for the Biden Administration starting in June 2022.
She later revealed on Instagram that she joined the White House for what she thought would be a brief assignment but ended up staying for a longer period of time.
“I had a WHOLE plan for how life would go after my term ended as Mayor, none of which included joining the White House,” Bottoms captioned her post on Monday. “After saying yes to what I thought would be a short term assignment, I was asked to stay much longer. It has been a privilege to work alongside @potus, @vp, and an extraordinary team in making a difference. I am grateful for the sacrifice my family has made and for the opportunity to represent all of who we are and all our ancestors believed we could be.”
Stephen Benjamin, a former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, will take over Bottoms’ vacant post as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. From 2010 until 2021, he presided over the United States as president. Benjamin served as mayor from 2010 to 2021, as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors from 2018 to 2019, and as president of the African American Mayors Association from 2015 to 2016.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that Bottoms “kept equity at the heart of our agenda, and continues to serve as the connective tissue between our Administration and everyday Americans who may not have a voice to reach Washington otherwise.”
“I have leaned on Keisha as a close advisor with exceptional instincts, and I am grateful to her for serving our nation with honor and integrity. I wish her the best as she returns home to Atlanta to be with her family,” Biden wrote.
