Update: May 19
Alex Somer announced he would drop his bid for Sandy Springs mayor in favor of running a campaign for the District Four city council seat.
March 5
Alex Somer announced his candidacy for Sandy Springs mayor during public comment at the March 4 City Council meeting.
“The reason I want to talk tonight is I’ve been following the North Spalding school [sic], and I just want to point out that you guys unequivocally failed. You had the chance to save a school and you couldn’t,” Somer said.
The Fulton County Board of Education voted on Feb. 20 to close Spalding Drive Elementary School at the end of this school year. While some members of the Sandy Springs City Council supported it staying open, the city has no authority to dictate the fate of any public school within city limits.
Somer said students in his neighborhood, who he described as primarily people of color, are being sent to Ison Springs Elementary School. He said underprivileged children are being sent to an underperforming school.
His six-year-old child will attend Ison Springs. Somer said he was deeply concerned with the council’s inability to protect children.
Somer told Rough Draft Atlanta that he submitted his declaration forms to the Sandy Springs City Clerk and launched his campaign on social media.
He earned an MBA in Business Analytics and Marketing Science from the University of Miami. Somer said he works in marketing science and database engineering, using statistics and analytical models to improve clients’ marketing strategies.
The candidate said he has volunteered at food distributions, soup kitchens, helped recycling efforts and donated platelets for many years. He set up health and wellness seminars when he worked for Progressive Medical Center on Shallowford Road.
Somer, 36, said he’s terrified for the future, the country and the community and wants to make whatever positive change he can for the community and his family and said he’s more representative of the community than the current mayor.
He was born and raised in Queens in New York City. Nearby was Corona, a working-class Latino neighborhood. His neighborhood was Rego Park, which welcomed eastern and southern European natives.
Somer said he moved to Atlanta in 2015 after earning his MBA, spending everything he earned to live in a Buckhead apartment complex. He moved in 2016 to Sandy Springs, where he said it was quieter, beautiful, and affordable.
Somer met his wife, Marley, who grew up in Rome, GA, in 2017. They moved to Miami in 2018, had a son, Quinn, and got married. He said that life brought them back to Sandy Springs in the summer of 2024.
“I’m invested in this community and want to make it the safest, cleanest, and happiest town we can be,” Somer said.
The qualifying period for the municipal election on Nov. 4 will take place at Sandy Springs City Hall from Monday, Aug. 18, through Thursday, Aug. 21, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and Friday, Aug. 22, from 8:30 a.m. and noon.
Incumbent Mayor Rusty Paul , Council member Jody Reichel and Dontaye Carter, founder of Carter Media Group, have already announced their bids for the mayoral seat.
