Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s gubernatorial election, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson to become the first Black woman elected governor of a United States state.
The Associated Press declared Bottoms the winner after she secured 54.77 percent of the vote against Jackson’s 45.23 percent, with 79 percent of votes reported. Bottoms received 1,912,796 votes, while Jackson recorded 1,579,835 votes, according to the election figures.
The 56-year-old Democrat also becomes the first woman and first Black person elected governor of Georgia. Her victory marks a historic development in a state that has never previously elected a woman to its highest executive office.
Bottoms will succeed Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is completing his second consecutive term. Her election returns Georgia’s governorship to Democratic control after more than two decades of Republican leadership.
A former mayor of Atlanta, Bottoms served from 2018 to 2022, overseeing the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and widespread demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd in 2020. She previously represented Southwest Atlanta on the City Council from 2010 to 2018.
Bottoms later joined President Joe Biden’s administration as a senior adviser and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Her experience in municipal government and federal politics featured prominently in her campaign for governor.
During the campaign, Bottoms pledged to expand Medicaid, reduce healthcare costs and improve economic opportunities for working families. Jackson, a businessman and Republican nominee, campaigned on economic development, public safety and conservative governance.
Born in Atlanta on January 18, 1970, Bottoms studied at Florida A&M University before pursuing a legal and political career. She is married to Derek Bottoms, and the couple have four children.
Bottoms is expected to assume office in January 2027, becoming the first Black woman to lead a US state as governor. Her victory comes alongside Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff’s re-election in Georgia, giving the party two significant statewide victories in the midterm elections.
