President Joe Biden announced Monday he would be appointing Stephen Benjamin, the former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, to serve as senior adviser and director of public engagement, replacing former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Lance Bottoms will return home to Atlanta to spend time with her family, Biden said in a statement.
“Under Keisha’s leadership, the Office of Public Engagement has kept equity at the heart of our agenda and continues to serve as the connective tissue between our Administration and everyday Americans who may not have a voice to reach Washington otherwise. I have leaned on Keisha as a close advisor with exceptional instincts, and I am grateful to her for serving our nation with honor and integrity,” Biden said.
The Office of Public Engagement under the Biden administration “works at the local, state, and national levels to ensure community leaders, diverse perspectives, and new voices have the opportunity to inform the work of the President in an inclusive, transparent and responsible way,” the statement read.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 13: White House Public Engagement Advisor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks a press briefing at the White House on January 13, 2023 in Washington, DC. Bottoms spoke on the President’s upcoming visit to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia for a Martin Luther King Jr. service. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Before being appointed director of public engagement, Benjamin served three terms as mayor of Columbia, where he “focused on the economic development of Main Street, job creation and maintaining a just, diverse, and trusted law enforcement department,” Biden said.
Benjamin also served as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the African American Mayors Association and as a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Affordable Housing Advisory Council, the statement continued. (RELATED: Biden’s Top Economic Adviser Quits)
Lance Bottoms’ departure marks yet another change in the Biden administration since the midterms. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, top economic adviser Brian Deese, Chief of Staff Ron Klain, and two White House communications staffers all announced their resignations in recent months.