Michael Sterling, former chief of Atlanta’s jobs training agency, is running for mayor

Michael T. Sterling, a former prosecutor and Reed senior advisor who most recently led the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency, officially announced this morning that he was running in next year’s mayoral race. The announcement makes Sterling the seventh official candidate in a field that’s expected to grow even larger.

The 34-year-old Beaumont, Texas native wants to go from a career mostly spent practicing law and investigating cases, advising Reed and leading City Hall initiatives, and reforming an embattled and dysfunctional agency, to taking the lead on improving education, public safety, transportation, and Atlanta’s inequality.

“I want to tackle the toughest issues we have and step from a behind-the-scenes problem solver to one who steps up front,” he says.

Sterling, who lives in Summerhill, graduated from Morehouse College and earned his law degree from Texas Southern University. He worked at a private law firm and then was named an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago. He joined the Reed administration and, according to his bio, advised the mayor on criminal justice and labor policy, handled judicial and commission appointments, and managed governmental relations. Reed tasked him with turning around AWDA after its previous executive director retired in the midst of a corruption probe.

Sterling says there are many reasons why he wants to run for mayor, but he was particularly inspired to run after reading an Annie E. Casey Foundation report that outlines Atlanta’s persistent inequality issues. According to the study, more than 80 percent of Atlanta’s African-American children live in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty and there are large gaps in graduation rates when comparing Black and Latino students to their white counterparts.

“It showed we have a long way to go as a city,” he says.

If elected, Sterling says, he wants to focus on working with the Atlanta Public Schools and finding ways to improve students’ lives in areas where the city can make a difference. While he says he does not favor a city takeover of the independent school system, he says “no option should be off the table when it comes to the education of our children.”

And like nearly every candidate he’s running against and every person who’s run in the past, Sterling says the city must address its transportation woes. He thinks Atlanta should conduct a comprehensive street-by-street review to address chokepoints, synchronize traffic lights, and take other steps to ease intown congestion. He wants to first focus on the gridlock that motorists face so “we can move people more quickly.”

“We need to be working together to look at all the problems causing back up and see what we can do to solve them,” he says.

If Sterling is elected, at the end of his term he sees an Atlanta “where there’s been a significant investment in people” with more residents on the “path to economic mobility and employment,” a thriving arts scene, and additional environmental efforts. 

“One in which everyone feels included, one that’s not totally segregated, where people feel they’re not excluded from the dream of Atlanta, and people feel like they have a mayor who listens to them, who hears them, and will do everything in their power to make the city better,” he says. 

The race is crowded and expected to grow. Former Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard, City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, former business consultant Peter Aman, and state Rep. Margaret Kaiser, D-Atlanta, are officially running. Debra Hampton and Al Bartell are also candidates, as is Kimberly Johnson Obasuyi. City Councilman Kwanza Hall has said he will run but has not filed official paperwork. State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, and City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms are said to be considering the race.  

Sterling says the size of that field doesn’t intimidate him and he hopes his pitch sets him apart. And he knows that, as someone who’s running their first race for elected office and whose name has never appeared on a ballot, that he’s an underdog. But he says he wants to serve the city.  

“I don’t romanticize the idea of being mayor,” Sterling says. “I actually want the job. I want the job. Having served in City Hall, having worked for the AWDA, the challenges are real to me. I want to do the hard stuff, the hard work, to try and bring about meaningful change to some of the toughest challenges the city faces. I’m willing to roll up my sleeves.”