Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms is facing criticism over her association with a controversial pastor who has described MAGA voters as “roaches” and praised outspoken anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has appeared alongside Bottoms at multiple campaign rallies as she campaigns ahead of Election Day. Bottoms is a former mayor of Atlanta who later served as a senior adviser in the Biden administration.
Bryant has energized crowds at the events, including one featuring former President Barack Obama as the keynote speaker. But critics say the activist pastor’s past statements could become a political liability for Bottoms in Tuesday’s race for governor.
“You are the company you keep, and Bottoms’ full embrace of these radicals shows Georgians she won’t stand with them,” Anna Marian Block, deputy communications director for the Republican Governors Association, told the Daily Mail.
Bryant, who made headlines last year after organizing a 40-day boycott of Target over the retailer’s decision to scale back its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, has drawn intense backlash for comparing the Trump administration and Republicans to cockroaches.
During an Easter sermon last year, Bryant said, “Roaches only start running when you turn the lights on. As long as the lights are out, they’re going to be comfortable.” He added 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!”
Bryant has also faced condemnation over his longstanding support for Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader widely criticized for antisemitic remarks, including calling Jews “wicked” and comparing them to termites.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, has come under fire for embracing controversial pastor Jamal Bryant, who has a history of describing MAGA voters as “roaches”
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church senior pastor Jamal Bryant, pictured speaking at a rally supporting Bottoms in Atlanta last week, faced fierce backlash last year after comparing the Trump administration and Republicans to cockroaches
Bryant has publicly supported Farrakhan for years. In a 2015 interview, he described the controversial figure as “one of the greatest leaders of our people.”
“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 start 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.”
In a social media post published in 2019 and later deleted, Bryant also said he was “humbled” to be in Farrakhan’s presence. Dozens of other posts expressing support for Farrakhan have also been removed, along with Bryant’s former X account.
Bryant’s previous comments resurfaced after he appeared at several Bottoms campaign fundraisers and rallies during her bid for governor.
The pastor donated $5,000 to Bottoms’ leadership PAC in late October. Last week, he joined controversial civil rights attorney Ben Crump at a campaign fundraiser, where he offered enthusiastic praise for Bottoms.
Several days later, Bryant appeared at a rally for Bottoms and Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff that featured Obama. He urged Georgia Democrats to turn out to vote and encouraged them to “dress up as change makers” for Halloween.
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In a Facebook post summarizing the gathering, Bryant wrote that he was “honored to be one of the keynote speakers.”
During an Easter sermon last year, Bryant said it was “dark in America” and declared 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 previous support for Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader widely condemned for antisemitic remarks, including calling Jews “wicked” and comparing them to termites, has also fueled outrage
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 anti-Semites 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.