Barnes backs Reed ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - Today, former Governor Roy Barnes, who's running for his old job, endorsed Kasim Reed in the Atlanta Mayoral runoff election.

The endorsement is the latest in a string of local and state politicians supporting Reed.

WABE's Charles Edwards reports

Standing on the State Capitol steps, Barnes said Atlanta and the rest of the state have been split for far too long.

BARNES: "and I'm here to say there's only one person that can bring that capitol city together with the state of Georgia and that's Kasim Reed."

In accepting Barnes' endorsement, Reed reflected back to the late 1990s when Barnes was running for Governor and he was running for a State House seat.

REED: "We need a strong partner with someone who understands the state as well as anybody I've ever seen and somebody that will put it on the line in order to achieve progress. And that's what Roy Barnes did when he was Governor and that's what I wanna do when I'm Mayor."

Both Barnes and Reed shrugged off questions about the endorsement brining political affiliation into a non partisan race. They also brushed off the notion that Barnes is only endorsing Reed to get Reed's support in next year's Governor's race.

However, that's exactly how Reed's opponent, frontrunner Mary Norwood is interpreting the endorsement from Barnes, Jim Martin and from 3rd place Mayoral finisher Lisa Borders.

However, Norwood's campaign manager Roman Levit admitted his candidate sought Borders' endorsement.

LEVIT: "Voters make up their own minds and they have. And when you're trying to change things, most politicians will stick with each other. So, that's the case."

Levit also noted that Norwood is the frontrunner coming in 1st with Norwood came in first with 46 percent of the vote in last week's election.

Charles Edwards, WABE News. © Copyright 2012, WABE