Coalition accuses Overstreet campaign of xenophobia against opponent Malhotra

A coalition of four community organizations has accused Marci Collier Overstreet’s campaign of disseminating xenophobic content against Rohit Malhotra, her opponent in the Atlanta City Council President’s race.

In a press release issued on Sept. 25, the Working Families Party, Barred Business, the Asian American Advocacy Fund (AAAF), and the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights Action Network claimed that a now-offline website calling Malhotra an “alarming threat to public safety” for his ties to organizations advocating for the defunding of the Atlanta Police, and subsequent emails linked to the website, were found by the coalition to be owned by Fred Hicks, a longtime political operative and consultant for Overstreet.

Ashna Khanna, the Executive Director for AAAF, and Britney Whaley, the Southeast Regional Director for Working Families Party, told Rough Draft that this language is dangerous and distracts from the issues.

“If you want to talk about public safety, let’s have a conversation about public safety and allow voters to hear from both candidates so they can make a decision about who they want to vote for,” Whaley said. “But asserting that he is a threat to public safety, to us, is just unacceptable.” 

Hicks told Axios that while he registered the site, neither he nor Overstreet created its content. He called the coalition’s claims “reprehensible” and said he may consider legal action.

Khanna said she believes this was not an isolated incident. Courtney English the mayor’s interim chief of staff, evoked the song “They Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar at Overstreet’s campaign launch, saying of Malhotra’s campaign, “They not like us – that’s what I want you to remember.”

At a recent campaign forum, when discussing how to move Atlanta forward, Overstreet said, “We don’t do that by blowing City Hall up or derailing all the good work we have done.”

Khanna said this rhetoric is a “xenophobic dog whistle” pushing a narrative that the South Asian candidate is a dangerous outsider.

“It feels like these aren’t isolated slips but a pattern that threatens the safety and dignity of not just AAPI communities, but the broader democratic process,” she said. “This isn’t abstract in our [AAPI, especially South Asian] communities. Many of our marginalized communities have lived through surveillance and scapegoating and being painted as perpetual outsiders, especially post-9/11. These sort of comments and rhetoric not only just fuels fear and hate, but it also makes all communities in the city of Atlanta feel less safe.”

Malhotra’s campaign responded to these sentiments in a statement to Rough Draft, saying, “Our campaign is deeply disappointed by these emails and more importantly the toxic rhetoric and fear tactics used to distract people from what really matters in this election. This type of status quo politics is not working anymore. We are focused on the issues and will continue to show up because Atlanta deserves more.”

Overstreet’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The coalition is calling for the Overstreet campaign to issue a public apology, disclose the list of emails that were sent the material, and immediately remove Hicks from any formal or informal role within the campaign.

“This is bigger than just one campaign and one election,” Khanna said. “It’s about the kind of city that Atlanta wants to be. It’s about the kind of state that Georgia wants to be. We deserve leaders who reject xenophobia, and I think all of our communities deserve to be with safety and dignity and cannot be used as bargaining chips in political fights.” 

Overstreet’s endorsements include APS Board Member Alfred “Shivy” Brooks; Atlanta City Councilmembers Jason Winston, Byron Amos, Matt Westmoreland, and Alex Wan; State Senator Sonya Halpern; State Representative Stacey Evans; and Congresswoman Lucy McBath. Malhotra’s endorsements include former City Council President Cathy Woolard, former City Councilmember Felicia Moore, the Georgia Working Families Party, Lead Locally, Run for Something, and the AAAF.

Early voting for the Atlanta municipal elections begins Oct. 14 and runs through Oct. 31. Election day is on Nov. 4. To register or check your registration, visit mvp.sos.ga.gov.

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