The presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump has been dominating headlines, but there’s another important political matchup on the ballot in November that will directly impact everyone living in Atlanta.
Five contenders are vying to be the newest face on Atlanta City Council this fall.
Black Futurists Group founder Devin Barrington Ward, civil rights attorney Eshé Collins, business owners Amber Higgins-Connor and Nicole Evans Jones, and community activist Duvwon Robinson are all competing in a Post-3 at-large seat contest that will affect a number of key issues on the minds of Black voters.
Those issues include affordable housing, homelessness, and public safety concerns, according to council member Michael Julian Bond, who has served as a member of the legislative body since the mid-1990s.
Bond noted that while the City Council race may be at the bottom of Fulton County ballots, it’s important for Black Atlanta residents to weigh in so their interests are adequately represented at City Hall.
“It’s essentially important because it’s local and it directly affects them,” Bond said. “If you’re making noise with your voice or your vote, you’re going to get a response.”
There are 16 total seats on the Atlanta City Council. The winner of the Post 3 at-large special election will serve the remainder of the term of former council member Keisha Sean Waites, who vacated her seat earlier this year to launch an unsuccessful bid to serve as Fulton County clerk.
The Post 3 at-large seat will be up for reelection again in November 2025. Incumbents historically have a stronger chance of winning than challengers.
Most Atlanta City Council members represent one region of the city, but those competing for Waites’ spot will occupy one of three at-large seats, representing the interests of all the city’s estimated 500,000 residents.
Housing, homelessness, and zoning concerns
The Post 3 at-large race takes place as the city experiences a notable rise in its homeless population and undergoes its biggest zoning ordinance overhaul in decades. Historically, Atlanta has largely been a city comprising single-family homes and neighborhoods that cater to motorists more than public transit users.
City leaders say they need to rezone parts of Atlanta to allow construction of more apartment buildings — including affordable housing units — and public transit options as Atlanta’s population continues to grow.
Supporters say the city needs to build more affordable housing so lower-income residents have places to live. High demand for housing has driven up rent prices.
Bond says the lack of affordable housing and an influx of new residents means the city’s homeless population is growing rapidly.
“There are people who are unhoused who are coming to Atlanta every day,” Bond said. “Even when the city addresses the needs of some, there are still more arriving on our doorstep.”
Zoning change opponents have argued rezoning for rental apartments reduces the supply of homes for sale and hurts Black homeownership rates in the process.
Capital B Atlanta recently spoke with all five candidates in this year’s race to break down where they each stand on the issues Black voters care about.
Who is Amber Higgins-Connor?
Age: 49
Where do you live?: Northwest Atlanta
Current job title: Co-owner of Hesedh for Life, a landscaping company
Where did you graduate high school?: Nettleton High School in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Class of 1993
Where did you graduate college?: Did not graduate
Primary career path: Business owner
Priority issues: Property tax reform, public safety (crime, road safety), education reform
Campaign website: https://www.amberforatlanta.com/
Awards and honors: Graduated from the Citizens Police Academy in 2017 and the Citizens Sheriff Academy in 2019. Lifetime master gardener since 2007. Emory University landscape design certificate
Do you support repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation?: Yes, with specific conditions. “The legislation for the repeal would need to be very explicit. It does no good if the property owner is being gouged with property tax hikes.”
Do you support rezoning parts of the city to build more affordable housing?: No
Do you support continuing to open the public safety training center (“Cop City”)?: Yes
Elevator pitch to Black voters: “My voice on City Council will be to keep this city the civil rights capital of the world.”
The rundown: Higgins-Connor is a small-business owner and landlord based in Atlanta’s Riverside-Grove Park area who has lived in the city for the past 29 years. Her plans to improve the lives of Atlanta residents include giving more tax credits and tax cuts to landlords like her who charge below-market rental rates to tenants.
“The property tax being raised is what’s causing people to have to move outside of the city and get priced out,” Higgins-Connor said. “You’ve got a lot of historically Black community members that have lived here for 40 and 50 years that find it too expensive to live here, and that’s unacceptable.”
Who is Devin Barrington-Ward?
Age: 34
Where do you live?: Southwest Atlanta/Cascade
Current job title: Managing director, Black Futurists Group
Where did you graduate high school?: Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain
Where did you graduate college?: N/A
Primary career path: Nonprofit founder, community organizer
Priority issues: Closing the racial wealth gap, reforming public safety/policing, mental health services, affordable housing
Campaign website: https://www.devinforatlanta.us/
Do you support repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation?: Yes
Do you support rezoning parts of the city to build more affordable housing?: Yes
Do you support continuing to open the public safety training center (“Cop City”)?: No
Elevator pitch to Black voters: “I’m the person in the race with the agenda and the platform that speaks to Black people the most.”
The rundown: Barrington-Ward has billed himself as the progressive candidate in this race. He’s a familiar face at Atlanta City Council meetings who advocated for creating a recovery fund for small-business owners impacted by the city’s massive water outage earlier this year. He’s also spoken out against police brutality and the ongoing construction of the city’s public safety training center, commonly known as “Cop City.”
Barrington-Ward has been endorsed by Abundant Housing Atlanta, a local chapter of the national affordable housing advocacy group known as Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY). His plan to create more affordable housing includes ensuring commercial real estate properties aren’t being undervalued and consequently undertaxed, pointing to the city’s developing 2 Peachtree Street residential complex as an example.
“With [those] additional resources, we would be able to build more affordable housing in the city of Atlanta,” Barrington-Ward said. He also supports rezoning parts of the city to allow for construction of more accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
“This is a way that we can have a win-win for both those folks who need the additional financial resources, but also for people who are looking for more affordable housing options,” he said.
Who is Duvwon Robinson?
Age: 47
Where do you live?: Northwest Atlanta
Current job title: Business consultant
Where did you graduate high school?: Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta. Class of 1994
Where did you graduate college?: Morgan State University in Baltimore. Class of 2002
Major: Political science
Primary career path: Management consulting
Priority issues: Improving the city’s affordable housing/area median income (AMI) calculation, fixing potholes, tackling crime
Campaign website: https://www.electdrduvwonrobinson.com/
Do you support repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation?: Yes
Do you support rezoning parts of the city to build more affordable housing?: Yes
Do you support continuing to open the public safety training center (“Cop City”)?: Yes
Elevator pitch to Black voters: “We’ve got to try something different at City Hall. We’ve got to get back to the basics: water, trash, public policy, and livable wages.”
The rundown: Robinson is a part-time community activist who has been a familiar face at Atlanta City Council meetings for years. He has routinely spoken out against tenants being abused by their landlords and advocated for increasing the city’s supply of affordable housing.
His plan to do so includes adjusting the area median income (AMI) calculation used by the city to determine what’s considered an affordable housing unit. Low-income Black renters, Robinson points out, often complain that the city’s affordable housing isn’t affordable for them.
“We’ve got to identify a true definition of affordable housing,” Robinson said. “People are being pushed out and don’t have nowhere to stay.”
Who is Eshé Collins?
Age: 44
Where do you live?: Southwest Atlanta, Princeton Lakes
Current job title: Civil rights attorney
Where did you graduate high school?: Druid Hills High School. Class of 1998
Where did you graduate college?: Spelman College. Class of 2002
Major: Psychology and pre-med
Primary career path: Education and civil rights law
Priority issues: Equal opportunity, cost of living, safe and healthy neighborhoods, holding elected leaders accountable
Campaign website: https://www.collins4atlanta.com/
Awards/honors: Georgia Trend 40 under 40 (2015). Atlanta Business Chronicle 40 under 40 (2019). YMCA Women of Influence and Innovation through the YMCA (2020). MLK Torch of Peace Award. Outstanding Atlanta (2014)/Leadership Atlanta, ARP’s Regional Leadership Institute. Georgia State University President Award for community service and social justice (2016)
Do you support repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation?: Yes
Do you support rezoning parts of the city to build more affordable housing?: Yes
Do you support continuing to open the public safety training center (“Cop City”)?: Yes
Elevator pitch to Black voters: “We should all be able to live in this city affordably [and] have safe and healthy neighborhoods.”
The rundown: Collins touts her more than 10 years served on the Atlanta Board of Education as one of the primary reasons she’s the best choice to replace Waites on the City Council.
“I’m the only candidate in this race that has that elected experience and a proven track record of moving large systems and large decisions forward,” she told Capital B Atlanta.
Like Robinson, Collins’ plans to improve housing conditions in Atlanta also include adjusting the city’s AMI affordable housing calculation so that it better reflects the needs of low-income renters. It also includes adjusting the requirements put on developers tasked with increasing the city’s affordable housing stock.
“That is looking at legislation to increase our percentage of stocks that we earmark as affordable housing,” Collins said. “That is looking at some of our requirements or guidelines that we push for income limits.”
Who is Nicole Evans Jones?
Age: 57
Where do you live?: Atlanta/West Midtown
Current job title: Co-founder of The Wellth House, a social club for women leaders
Where did you graduate high school?: Benjamin E. Mays High School in Atlanta. Class of 1984
Where did you graduate college?: Howard University in Washington, D.C. Class of 1988
Major: Political science
Graduate school: Clark Atlanta University. Master’s degree in counseling, human growth and development. Class of 1993
Doctorate: Educational leadership from CAU. Class of 2010
Primary career path: K-12 counselor and principal
Priority issues: Equitable transportation, attainable housing, promoting safe neighborhoods
Campaign website: https://www.nicoleevansjonesforatlanta.com/
Do you support repealing the statewide ban on rent regulation?: Yes
Do you support rezoning parts of the city to build more affordable housing?: Yes
Do you support continuing to open the public safety training center (“Cop City”)?: Yes
Elevator pitch to Black voters: “Securing the future of Atlanta is more than getting a quality education. Securing Atlanta’s future includes stabilizing and strengthening families where they live, neighborhood by neighborhood.”
The rundown: Evans Jones is a small-business owner and a “Grady Baby” who wants to set aside Atlanta general fund money specifically to build housing for front-line workers, including nurses, teachers, police, and firefighters. Housing advocates have spent the past several years complaining about municipal government employees who don’t make enough money to live in the city where they work.
City Council and Mayor Andre Dickens have increased pay for city of Atlanta workers for at least two consecutive years.
“We lose a lot of our human capital when they can’t live in the city,” Evans Jones said. “If we make it more amenable to them, then those are great people to have walking around and living in our neighborhood.”
