Biden's secret weapon? Keisha Lance Bottoms can salvage sagging ratings, allies say

Keisha Lance Bottoms's addition to President Joe Biden's circle of senior White House advisers will help shore up the president's falling approval ratings among black voters, allies believe.

Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, is replacing Cedric Richmond as director of the White House's Office of Public Engagement and is viewed as a rising star in the Democratic Party. She was included on Biden's short list of vice presidential contenders and was a critical Biden surrogate in pushing Georgia blue in the 2020 race, but she chose not to run for a second term as mayor in the spring of 2021 despite a 68% approval rating in some polls.