[9] She moved to Atlanta in the early 1980s,[7][better source needed] and around that time became involved in activism on neighborhood and community matters.

[8] She founded several local groups related to environmentalism and the preservation of green space, and served on the Mayor's Task Force on Race and Diversity during the mayoralty of Bill Campbell.

[10] In the late 1990s and early 2000s (during the dot-com boom), Norwood owned OneCallWeb.com –a web-based broadcast voice messaging provider that facilitated telemarketing-style auto dialing.

This downgrade resulted from four years of operating deficits, as well as longer-term pressures associated with the Atlanta's underfunded pensions, police overtime, and subsidies to several funds.

In both instances that she voted against tax increases, Norwood asked the city to reduce its spending on areas other than public safety personnel.

[22] In November 2018, Norwood sought to rejoin the board as its chair, and received the support of local Republican state senators.

According to an investigation by the staff of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, campaign records show that the Georgia Democratic Party spent at least $165,000 to oppose Norwood.

[26][27] Norwood campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility, and in a political advertisement she asserted that the city of Atlanta had misplaced $100 million.

However, the Fulton County Board of Elections rejected her petition to appear on the ballot because she filed it several hours past the deadline.

[30] Similar to the 2009 race, she has called for increased transparency in the municipal government, along with various additions to Atlanta's public transportation systems.

[33] Norwood was initially considered the frontrunner in the race due to her strong performance in the 2009 runoff and her history of being elected city-wide.

The race attracted significant attention due to Norwood's status as an independent politician and the fact that, if elected, she would have been the first white mayor of Atlanta since Sam Massell in 1974.

[44] Norwood signed an affidavit (notarized on November 29, 2020) in support of the plaintiffs in Pearson v. Kemp, a lawsuit that sought to invalidate Georgia's 16 electoral college votes that had been cast for then-president-elect Joe Biden as part of Republican-led attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.