Symone Sanders Leaving White House

Symone Sanders, a top aide to Vice President Kamala Harris will depart the White House by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sanders shared the move in a Wednesday night memo to staff.

“I’m so grateful to the VP for her vote of confidence from the very beginning and the opportunity to see what can be unburdened by what has been,” she wrote.

She has served as Harris’s spokeswoman since the beginning of the Biden administration.

A White House official told CNN that Sanders had served "honorably."

"The President and vice president are grateful for Symone's service and advocacy for this White House. She is a valued member, a team player, and she will be missed. We are grateful to have her working through the end of the year," the official said.

Stacey Abrams announces another run for Georgia governor

Stacey Abrams released a video announcing that she's running for Georgia governor again in 2022.

I’m running for Governor because opportunity in our state shouldn’t be determined by zip code, background or access to power. #gapol

Be a founding donor to my campaign:https://t.co/gk2lmBINfW pic.twitter.com/z14wUlo8ls

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) December 1, 2021

Andre Dickens wins Atlanta mayor race

City Council member Andre Dickens won a runoff election Tuesday to become Atlanta's next mayor, soundly beating the council's president Felicia Moore.

It has been a remarkable run for Dickens, a current Atlanta City Councilman, who just more than a month ago was polling at 6 percent, well behind front runners Moore and former Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed.

A month before that, Dickens polled in fourth place behind Sharon Gay, and just ahead of fellow councilman Antonio Brown.

But then came Election Day. On Nov. 2, Dickens surged ahead of Reed late in the night and ended up securing his spot in Tuesday's runoff by about 600 votes. But on that night, he was still trailing Moore by about 17 percent of the vote.

Over the next 28 days, Dickens was able to carry that momentum into an unlikely win and a job he says he's been looking forward to since he was 16 years old.

Dickens says he will hit the ground running in his first 100 days in office. He says his primary focus when he takes the oath in January will be on public safety.

"On day one, I'll make sure we start and enact my 'Safe Streets Plan,' my public safety plan for the city of Atlanta. To begin the process of hiring 250 officers and start their training toward conflict resolution and community-based policing."

He's also pushing to advance education initiatives, despite the mayor's office having no direct oversight over the city's schools.

Dickens will be sworn into office on Jan. 3, 2022.

Keith Ellison to seek 2nd term as Minnesota attorney general

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Monday that he’s running for reelection next year.

Ellison said he wants another four-year term to continue fighting for fairness in wages, drug prices, housing costs and other areas of the economy. During a remote campaign announcement, Ellison said his goal remains to help people afford their lives.

“We’ve done a lot. We’ve done all we can, and we’re going to do more,” Ellison said. “But that’s why I’m running for re-election, to continue this fight for people all over the state of Minnesota.”

Ellison is the first Black Attorney General and the first Muslim elected to statewide office in Minnesota. He previously served a dozen years in Congress representing Minneapolis and the rest of Minnesota’s 5th District.

Mary McLeod Bethune’s statue from Florida will make history in the U.S. Capitol

Early next year, Florida will send a statue of Mary McLeod Bethune to replace a statue of a Confederate general in the U.S. Capitol, making her the first Black person to represent a state in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Bethune was an educator and civil rights activist. In 1904, she started a school for Black girls in Daytona Beach, which later became Bethune-Cookman University. She was also an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The white marble statue that depicts a smiling Bethune holding a black marble rose is on display at Daytona State College’s News-Journal Center in Daytona Beach until Dec. 12, when it will head to D.C.

There are four other African Americans represented in statues or busts throughout the Capitol — Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth — but none of them belongs to the National Statuary Hall Collection representing a state.