President Biden tapped former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms to replace Cedric Richmond as one of his top aides, bringing a rising Democratic star and former running mate to the White House at one time criticism, Axios was the first to report it.

Why is this important: As director of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement beginning in the coming weeks, Bottoms will have immediate access to some of the West Wing’s high-level planning and strategy sessions — and the president himself.

• The role is integral to shaping Biden’s policies and then convincing the broader Democratic coalition that the president charts the right course.
• The stakes are high: Bottoms will be tasked with navigating divergent policy agendas between progressives and centrists ahead of what is expected to be a nasty midterm cycle for Democrats.
• “Keisha is brilliant, honorable, tough and has the integrity required to represent our administration to the American public,” Biden said in a statement. “Jill and I have known Keisha for a long time and we look forward to working with her more closely.”

Driving the news: Bottoms told Axios in an interview that she plans to do “more listening than anything” and that “it’s important that people feel their voice is reflected and their voice is heard.”

• Democrats face the prospect of losing one or both houses of Congress in November and have struggled to find the right message for voters amid soaring inflation and a falling interest rate. Biden’s endorsement.
• Bottoms, who has a reputation for candor, has pledged to serve at least until the midterm, according to a senior administration official. Richmond left the White House last month for the Democratic National Committee.

Between the lines: By choosing Bottoms to replace Richmond, a black former congressman from Louisiana, Biden signals a continued commitment to African American voters and leaders to uplift people of color in his administration.

• Bottoms’ work as mayor of a major city in a crucial swing state — during a period that covered the start of the pandemic through nationwide protests against systemic racism — gave him experience of some of the most pressing and contentious national issues facing Americans.
• As Axios previously reported, Biden had at one point considered former Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx as Richmond’s successor.

What they say : “I know what it’s like to lead in difficult times and how important it is to have strong leaders around you to navigate,” she told Axios.

• “We’ve been through some very tough times, especially for African Americans in this country.”
• “These challenges are still very fresh and real to me. And I live them every day: I live them as a black woman, I live them as a mother of four, and I know where those challenges are, but I also know where the opportunities are.”

Background: Like Richmond, Bottoms has been a close adviser to Biden since the early days of his 2020 campaign, when both were surrogates.

• Bottoms was one of the names on the shortlist for Biden’s VP pick. He chose Kamala Harris – and implored Bottoms to lead the Small Business Administration. While Axios had recovered at the time, she declined the offer.
• Amid civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd, Bottoms held a press conference in Atlanta and urged protesters to return home: “This is not a protest. It’s not in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. It’s chaos,” she said at the time. “If you care about this town, then go home.”
• And in a moving interview with “Axios on HBO” in the summer of 2020, she spoke about the difficulties of raising black children amid fears they could be killed at the hands of police tasked with protecting the public.
• She plans to spend most of her time in Washington, DC, but her family will remain in Atlanta.