Keisha Lance Bottoms makes history in Georgia, becomes nation’s first Black woman governor

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Keisha Lance Bottoms made history Tuesday night, becoming the nation’s first Black woman governor after defeating Republican Rick Jackson to become Georgia’s 84th chief executive.

The former Atlanta mayor’s victory caps a 2026 midterm that also makes her Georgia’s first Black woman elected to any statewide constitutional office.

Full election results here

Bottoms single-handily avoided a June runoff against a stacked field vying for the Democratic nomination in the May primary. Former Labor commissioner and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond; former lieutenant governor and Republican-turned-Democrat Geoff Duncan; and former metro Atlanta state senator Jason Esteves also sought the nomination before Bottoms cleared the runoff threshold.

Bottoms - whose career spanned Atlanta City Council (2010-2017), one term as Atlanta’s 60th mayor (2018-2022), and President Joe Biden’s director of public engagement (2022-23) - defeated Jackson, the billionaire healthcare executive whose stunning February entry upended the GOP primary and ousted Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a June runoff.

After serving one term as Atlanta mayor, Bottoms chose not to run for reelection in 2022. Her mayoral record was marked by clashes with Gov. Brian Kemp during the COVID-19 pandemic over mandatory business closures and mask mandates; her response to the 2020 Atlanta police shooting of Rayshard Brooks; and the death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, who was shot and killed on July 4, 2020, near the Wendy’s on University Avenue where Brooks had been killed weeks earlier.

During Bottoms’ tenure as mayor, she established the city’s first fully staffed office of equity, diversity, and inclusion; eliminated cash bail bond across the city; oversaw the rollout of Atlanta’s Open Checkbook, the city’s financial transparency platform; and oversaw the city’s staging of Super Bowl LIII.

Her platform for governor centered on lowering healthcare costs by expanding Medicaid, bring down housing costs and fully funding Georgia’s schools.

In January, Bottoms will be inaugurated as the state’s first Democrat elected governor since Roy Barnes lost to Sonny Perdue in 2002.

Bottoms is not the first Black female to seek Georgia’s governorship; former state lawmaker Stacey Abrams ran two such unsuccessful campaigns in 2018 and 2022.

Jackson’s rise to political prominence was swift and stunning, especially to Jones, who was once thought to be on a fast track to claiming the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Jones had a massive fundraising advantage over his two Republican primary opponents, Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

But then along came Jackson, whose unexpected February entry shocked political observers and completely upended Jones’ once-certain GOP coronation. Jackson ousted Jones in June’s Republican gubernatorial runoff, sending Jones — along with Carr and Raffensperger — to Peach State political wilderness.

Jackson’s campaign centered his personal story of living in Atlanta projects and moving from one foster home to another to becoming a health care entrepreneur and billionaire. Jackson Healthcare is one of the largest U.S. healthcare staffing firms with $3 billion in annual revenue and operating in all 50 states.

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