Democrat Georgia gubernatorial candidate and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called anti-riot laws “silly” and “asinine” in 2022. 

Bottoms — who oversaw a massive murder and crime spike during her time as Atlanta mayor, at the height of nationwide social justice protests —  criticized anti-riot laws during an interview with The Atlantic shortly after she ended her time in office. Bottoms announced in the summer of 2021 that she had decided not to run for reelection.

When asked, “What do you make of these proposals to stiffen penalties for public protest that become unruly or violent?” Bottoms called the laws “really silly.” 

“And it really takes away from the real conversation and the need to have some real dialogue, some meaningful dialogue, on why people are in our streets protesting. Let’s have a conversation about the open carry law in Georgia and how protesters can walk with AK-47s down the street, and there’s no penalty for that. That scares me more than 100 college students protesting peacefully in the street,” Bottoms replied. 

“I think when we peel back and we look at why were people in the streets in the summer of 2020, it was because we were witnessing something that we had never witnessed as a country as whole in my lifetime, and it was a need for a conversation and for real reform,” she continued. 

“I hope that when you see policies and laws like that introduced wherever you are, it is this reminder of why elections matter. It’s not enough that we show up and we vote for the president,” she said. “We gotta show up each and every time when that state senator, when that local representative is on the ballot. Because if not, we have people speaking for us and setting laws for us that are completely asinine and not at all in touch with where we are and where we need to be as a country.”

At the time, Georgia lawmakers were trying to pass a bill that would have bolstered criminal penalties for rioters obstructing roadways and causing mayhem. That bill ultimately failed, however, a similar piece of legislation became law in 2026. 

Other states, like Florida, have passed equivalent bills aimed at disincentivizing lawless behavior during riots. 

Bottoms is running against Republican billionaire health executive Rick Jackson in Georgia’s gubernatorial race. RealClear Polling shows Jackson narrowly ahead of Bottoms by an average of 1.6 points. 

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.