Keisha Lance Bottoms Wins Georgia Governor Race, Making US History

Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s governor race, the Associated Press projected, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state. The Keisha Lance Bottoms Georgia governor victory gives Democrats the state’s top office for the first time in more than two decades.

Bottoms, 56, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson in Tuesday’s election, winning about 55 per cent of the vote, according to the Associated Press call reported by multiple outlets. Jackson conceded the race on Tuesday night, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

FAKTA

• Winner: Keisha Lance Bottoms, Democrat, 56, former mayor of Atlanta
• Defeated: Rick Jackson, Republican businessman, 72
• Result: Associated Press called the race for Bottoms on Tuesday, 3 November, with about 55 per cent of the vote
• Historic first: First Black woman elected governor of a US state; Georgia’s first Black governor and first woman governor
• Party shift: First Democrat to win Georgia’s governorship since Roy Barnes won the 1998 election
• Outgoing governor: Brian Kemp, a Republican barred by term limits from seeking a third term

Keisha Lance Bottoms, Georgia governor-elect: a historic first

Bottoms is Georgia’s first Black governor and its first woman governor, and the first Black woman ever elected to lead a US state, the Associated Press and other outlets reported. Georgia has had 83 governors since 1776, and all of them had previously been white men, according to election-night reporting.

Her win also returns the governor’s mansion to Democratic hands. The last Democrat elected governor of Georgia was Roy Barnes, who won the 1998 election, and Republicans had held the office for 23 years before Tuesday’s result.

From Atlanta City Hall to the governor’s mansion

Bottoms served on the Atlanta City Council from 2010 to 2017 and as mayor of Atlanta for a single term, from 2018 to 2022. After leaving City Hall, she joined former President Joe Biden’s administration as senior adviser to the president for public engagement, leaving that role in February 2023.

Jackson, her Republican opponent, founded the medical staffing company Jackson Healthcare after growing up in foster care, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. He spent more than $100 million of his own money to secure the Republican nomination and campaigned on cutting the state income tax and defending existing abortion laws.

What the Keisha Lance Bottoms Georgia governor result means

The campaign turned on health care access, household costs, abortion and public safety, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Bottoms pledged full Medicaid expansion as a day-one priority, a $15-an-hour state minimum wage, a statewide affordable housing trust fund and tuition-free community and technical colleges.

Bottoms will succeed Kemp, who could not seek a third term. The result is a projection by the Associated Press, not a certified final count: Georgia’s election officials must still complete the canvass and certification of the results.

For more US election coverage, see Watan News’ America section.