Keisha Lance Bottoms makes history as first Black woman elected Georgia governor

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms made history Tuesday as the first Black woman elected governor of Georgia, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson and flipping the top office in a critical swing state.

The former Atlanta mayor achieved the win despite being heavily outspent by Jackson, a billionaire who poured over $200 million of his personal wealth into his campaign.

Her election marks the first Democratic victory in a Georgia governor race since 1998.

"What we do in this moment will echo through history," Bottoms stated prior to Election Day.

Throughout her campaign, she frequently downplayed the historic nature of her run, choosing instead to focus on addressing economic disparities and acting as a counterweight to President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington.

"Let’s choose hope over fear, progress over division, and come together to build a better Georgia for everyone," she urged.

Bottoms' win defies a historical reluctance among voters to select state leaders from Atlanta, highlighting the political transformation driven by the expansion of the state’s primary metropolitan area.

Her victory follows Georgia reelecting its first Jewish senator, Democrat Jon Ossoff, alongside its first Black senator, Raphael Warnock.

Term limits prevented Republican Gov. Brian Kemp from running for a third term, opening the seat Bottoms will now fill.

This election marked the third consecutive cycle featuring a Black woman at the top of the state's Democratic ticket, following two runs by voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams, who chose not to compete this year.

Bottoms was one of eight Black major-party gubernatorial candidates nationwide on Tuesday's ballot.

Across US history, only three Black governors, all Democratic men, have ever been elected.

Bottoms and Minnesota Republican Lisa Demuth were the two Black women contesting governor races this year.

Although a descendant of enslaved Georgians, Bottoms seldom highlighted the historic implications of her candidacy directly, though she regularly referenced her personal heritage.

"I am at least a fifth-generation Georgian," she explained. "I say ‘at least’ because we can only trace our family back five generations — to a plantation in Crawfordville."

She reflected on how her grandfather had to "walk through these back doors" of downtown buildings that she subsequently entered through the front as mayor, noting that her ancestry "is always present with me."