A mayor and the 15-member Atlanta City Council are in charge of running Atlanta. The city council is composed of three at-large members and one representative from each of the city’s twelve districts. The city council is composed of three at-large members and one representative from each of the city’s twelve districts. A measure enacted by the council may be vetoed by the mayor, but with a two-thirds majority, the council can override the veto.

Andre Dickens is the mayor of Atlanta. He was elected as a Democrat on a nonpartisan ballot, and his first term in office started on January 3, 2022. Since 1973, there has only ever been one black mayor.

Shirley Franklin was elected as Atlanta’s first female mayor in 2001. She also made history as the first African-American woman to lead a significant Southern metropolis. During Mayor Bill Campbell’s tenure as mayor of Atlanta in the 1990s, the city’s politics acquired a notoriously corrupt reputation. In 2006, a federal jury found Campbell guilty on three charges of tax fraud related to gains from gambling while on trips he made with city contractors.

Atlanta houses the majority of Georgia’s state government because it is the state capital. The offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and the General Assembly are all housed downtown in the Georgia State Capitol building. A residential area of Buckhead is where the Governor’s Mansion is located. Many government agencies, like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, have regional offices in Atlanta (CDC). Beginning on January 1, 2018, the CDC was included into the City of Atlanta’s boundaries. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia are both located in Atlanta, which is significant to the federal judicial system.

The Democratic Party has traditionally held sway in Atlanta. The majority of the city’s elected officials are Democrats, despite the fact that municipal elections are legally nonpartisan. Four state senate districts and 14 state house districts, all held by Democrats, divide the city. Atlanta is divided among three congressional districts on the national level. Nikema Williams, a Democrat, represents the 5th district, which includes the majority of the city. The 13th district, which is represented by Democrat David Scott, includes much of southern Atlanta. The 11th district, which is represented by Republican Barry Loudermilk, includes a little area of the north.