The Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia has come under fire for embracing a controversial pastor – with a history of bashing MAGA voters as 'roaches' and heaping praise on notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, the Daily Mail
can reveal.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and who served as a senior adviser in the Biden administration, has been joined by New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's senior pastor Jamal Bryant at several campaign rallies in the lead-up to Election Day.
But as Bryant has busied himself firing up the crowds at the events – including one where former President Barack Obama was the keynote speaker – critics have warned that the activist pastor's past rhetoric could actually be a liability for Bottoms in Tuesday's election for the governor's seat.
'You are the company you keep, and Bottoms' full embrace of these radicals shows Georgians she won't stand with them,' Anna Marian Block, the Republican Governors Association's deputy communications director, told the Daily Mail.
Bryant, who went viral last year for organizing a 40-day boycott against Target after the retailer scaled back Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, has ignited fierce backlash for comparing the Trump administration and Republicans to cockroaches.
'Roaches only start running when you turn the lights on. As long as the lights are out, they're going to be comfortable,' Bryant declared during an Easter sermon just last year, noting that it was 'dark in America.'
'I came to give a warning, Elon Musk, the light is getting ready to come on! Donald Trump, the light is getting ready to come on! JD Vance, the light is getting ready to come on! MAGA, the light is getting ready to come on!'
And Bryant's past support of Farrakhan, the notorious antisemitic Nation of Islam leader whose record includes calling Jews 'wicked' and comparing them to termites, has also sparked outrage.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, has come under fire for embracing a controversial pastor with a history of bashing MAGA voters as 'roaches'
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church's senior pastor Jamal Bryant, pictured speaking at a rally in support of Bottoms in Atlanta last week, ignited fierce backlash for comparing the Trump administration and Republicans to cockroaches last year
Bryant has been a vocal supporter of Farrakhan over the years and described the anti-Semite as 'one of the greatest leaders of our people' when he interviewed him back in 2015.
'We welcome to the Word Network and the entire world, the honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan! We're honored to have you, sir,' Bryant said at the beginning of the interview.
'I'm so appreciative to be able to mark in history that I lived in the same chasm of time as one of the greatest leaders of our people.'
The pastor also said he was 'humbled' to be in Farrakhan's presence, in a since-deleted 2019 social media post. It was among dozens of other pro-Farrakhan posts that have now been deleted, along with his old X account.
Bryant's past remarks resurfaced after he was spotted at several of Bottoms' campaign fundraisers and rallies in her fight to become governor.
The pastor, who donated $5,000 to Bottoms' leadership PAC in late October, joined controversial civil rights attorney Ben Crump at a campaign fundraiser just last week where Bryant lavished praise on Bottoms.
Days later, Bryant also joined a rally for Bottoms and Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, which featured Obama, where he called for Georgia Democrats to get out to vote and to 'dress up as change makers' on Halloween.
In a Facebook post recapping the event, Bottoms said he was 'honored to be one of the keynote speakers.'
During an Easter sermon just last year, Bryant declared that it was 'dark in America' and that 'roaches only start running when you turn the lights on.' He then said: 'Donald Trump, the light is getting ready to come on! JD Vance, the light is getting ready to come on! MAGA, the light is getting ready to come on!'
Bryant's past support of Louis Farrakhan, the notorious antisemitic Nation of Islam leader whose record includes calling Jews 'wicked' and comparing them to termites, has also sparked outrage
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Bottoms, for her part, appeared earlier this year on Bryant's Let's Be Clear podcast and said: 'I am honored to be here…I love you. I love your family and I watch your podcast, so I am just honored to be counted in the number.'
And Bryant used another episode of the podcast to tell his audience that 'we gotta support Keisha Lance Bottoms, not just because she's black, but because she is the best.'
The Republican Governors Association have come out swinging over the gushing public support – and Bottoms's apparent embrace of it.
'Jamal Bryant praises antisemites and calls Republicans "roaches," Ben Crump profits off racial division, and Keisha Lance Bottoms calls them allies,' Block said.
'Not a smart move days before the election,' a Democratic consultant told the Daily Mail.
Meanwhile, Bryant's past remarks also include criticizing gay people, which he framed as a 'sin' during a 2012 sermon at the Baltimore Empowerment Temple, encouraging believers to make sinners feel 'uncomfortable in [their] sin.'
Bottoms has been criticized for accepting support from Bryant given his controversial history. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate is pictured with former President Obama at a campaign event last week
He further expressed frustration over the Obama-Biden stance on same-sex marriage, asserting that black pastors were betrayed by the lack of advance notice of the administration's support for gay marriage and that Obama was 'black and wrong.'
Bottoms, who has been a longtime supporter of gay rights and has called for 'protecting the dignity and freedom of all who call Atlanta home,' appointed the city's first LGBTQ affairs coordinator and formed an LGBTQ advisory board during her tenure as mayor.
She isn't the first Democratic politician that Bryant has campaigned with.
He hosted failed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in 2024 at his church and previously campaigned with twice-failed Georgia gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, a Democrat.
Bryant previously called Harris an 'American hero' and a 'voice of the future' in 2024. Harris returned the praise by saying she was honored to be in attendance at his church to 'celebrate' what he has 'accomplished.'
The Daily Mail reached out to Bryant and the Bottoms campaign.
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