Runoff Will Decide Atlanta's Race For Mayor

JOHN SEPULVADO: This is John Sepulvado in Atlanta, where mayoral candidate Mary Norwood garnered 43 percent of the vote Tuesday, forcing a runoff election next month. She did this, according to her campaign spokeswoman, by playing small-ball politics. Norwood didn't swing for the political fences with big promises. Instead, she focused on issues like cutting crime and balancing the city's budget. And on election night, Norwood told supporters her campaign is about unifying the city.

Ms. MARY NORWOOD (Atlanta Mayoral Candidate): An Atlanta that works for everybody, an Atlanta where every community is respected. That has been our campaign. That will continue to be our campaign.

(Soundbite of applause)

SEPULVADO: Norwood is an atypical Atlanta mayoral frontrunner. She's a white independent in a predominantly black and Democratic city, and she would be the first white mayor elected in almost 40 years. Her message of unity and political pragmatism has resonated with voters, says Emory University political science Professor Michael Owens.

Professor MICHAEL OWENS (Political Science, Emory University): She has crafted a very interesting coalition of middle-class whites, a small degree of middle-class blacks, and I think a relatively larger degree of working-class blacks -something that we've never seen before.

SEPULVADO: Owens says a large part of her appeal is that many African-Americans believe Atlanta's established black leadership is unresponsive. That's also helped her with white residents like David Massey, who'd go even further and say that leadership is corrupt. He says a big reason he's voting for Norwood is simply because she's white, even though he doesn't think she can fix the city's high foreclosure and unemployment rates.

Mr. DAVID MASSEY: So is Mary Norwood going to actually take care of this? No. Is the black mayor candidate? No. I guess I'm just voting on my race, really, to be honest with you.

SEPULVADO: Rivals have attacked Norwood as a closet Republican living in a swanky part of town. Norwood does live in an upscale community, and for a time, she couldn't remember who she voted for in recent presidential elections. Yet so far, those attacks don't seem to have resonated, in part because she's gained a reputation as a tireless worker, says Eric Thomas, a pastor at a south side black church.

Pastor ERIC THOMAS (Minister, South Side of Atlanta): She has been probably the most responsive councilperson regarding, you know, community matters, you know, making the city livable, making the city more comfortable.

SEPULVADO: Still, political science Professor Michael Owens says Norwood is in trouble. He expects the black community to coalesce around Kasim Reed, an African-American Democrat and former state senator who faces Norwood in the runoff election. Owens expects Reed to paint her as a Republican, while the Norwood campaign is bracing for more subtle attacks on their candidate's race.

For NPR News, I'm John Sepulvado in Atlanta. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.