Atlanta City Council race headed to December runoff

Two candidates for the Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large seat will face off in a runoff election in early December, after neither received 50% of the vote during the Nov. 5 general election. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Two candidates for the Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large seat will face off in a runoff election in early December, after neither received 50% of the vote during the Nov. 5 general election.

Former educator Dr. Nicole “Nikki” Evans Jones and Atlanta Board of Education District 6 representative Eshé Collins are both in the running for the citywide seat. The position has been vacated since March after Councilmember Keisha Waites stepped down to run for Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts. Waites lost in the May primary.

Jones finished the general election with about 39% of the vote compared to Collins’ 25%, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s office. The other candidates who ran for the position — Amber Higgins Connor (15.2%), Devin Barrington Ward (13.7%) and Duvwon Robinson (6.5%) — will not advance to the runoff.

The Atlanta Center for Civic Innovation will hold a runoff forum with Jones and Collins on Nov. 12. Attendees can join virtually or in person.

The winner of the Dec. 3 runoff will serve out the remainder of Waites’ term, which expires on Dec. 31, 2025. To secure a full four-year term, the winning candidate will have to run for reelection for the position in the next City Council elections, which will be held in November of that year.