Updated at 3 p.m.
Michael Sterling has dropped out of the Atlanta mayor’s race, leaving 10 candidates still in the running.
Sterling, who has worked as a federal prosecutor and as executive director of the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency, said that over the weekend his team decided he didn’t have a path to victory.
“Visibility played a roll. We had a very difficult time raising the money we needed to get our message out on TV and radio,” Sterling told WABE’s Rose Scott on Closer Look. “It was a matter of, if we couldn’t get the message out, and we couldn’t reach the voters, and there wasn’t a path to victory, we needed to rethink what we did next.”
He announced Tuesday morning that he’s endorsing Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell for mayor.
“The voters have made it clear that as much as I’ve tried, my message just hasn’t resonated the way I thought it would, and so I want to put my support behind somebody who still shares the values, who’s still going to address the challenges that Atlanta faces, and that’s council president Mitchell,” Sterling said, standing beside Mitchell.
Sterling said on Closer Look Tuesday afternoon that he plans to go back to practicing law and will campaign for Mitchell over the next two weeks.
Mitchell has generally been in the middle of the pack in polls, which have shown city councilwoman Mary Norwood in the lead. He’s raised $2.1 million in cash and in-kind donations, second only to former Atlanta chief operating officer Peter Aman. Polls show that a large proportion of voters are still undecided in the non-partisan race.
Early voting has already begun. Election day is Nov. 7. There will likely be a runoff between the top two candidates; that would happen in December.
