Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s governor’s race on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history.
The Story
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday, making history as the first Black woman to be elected governor in the United States, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson and flipping the top job in a key swing state.
Bottoms will succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was barred by law from seeking a third term. Her victory comes as Georgia’s politics continue shifting as the statehouse dynamic changes, with Republicans’ long-standing control of the governor’s office and both chambers of the General Assembly for more than two decades now facing new pressure.
Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, won Tuesday despite a campaign spending deficit attributed to Jackson tapping more than $200 million of his own money. She was the first Democrat to prevail in a Georgia governor’s race since 1998.
During the campaign, Bottoms emphasized her policy agenda and contrasted it with her opponents’ approach. She said, “Let’s choose hope over fear, progress over division, and come together to build a better Georgia for everyone,” and told voters ahead of the election, “What we do in this moment will echo through history.”
Her stated priorities included expanding Georgia’s Medicaid program to cover hundreds of thousands more people and increasing Georgia’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. She also called for raising pay for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees, pausing data center development, and repealing Georgia’s ban on abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy.
Bottoms said the abortion ban is “a life and death issue,” citing cases where physicians fear criminal prosecution and where women have died from miscarriage and pregnancy complications. She also pledged to stop installation of additional automated Flock cameras used by law enforcement.
In the rivals’ lone debate, Bottoms rejected Jackson’s framing and said, “I’m not running to be his favorite governor. I’m running to work on behalf of people like you.”
Jackson conceded defeat to supporters, telling them, “Tonight, the voters spoke … and I respect their decision.”
Bottoms will also serve in a period when Georgia reelected Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff to serve alongside Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who are the state’s first Jewish and first Black senators, respectively. The governor’s race was the third Georgia gubernatorial election in a row with a Black woman leading the ticket.
← More stories