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

Georgia will have a new governor in January, and the change ends a 24-year drought for Democrats: Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, defeated Republican Rick Jackson on Tuesday night to become the state’s 84th chief executive and the first Black woman elected governor in the nation, WCTV reported. Democrats last won Georgia’s governor’s office in 1998, when Roy Barnes was elected; Barnes lost his reelection bid to Sonny Perdue in 2002.

Bottoms, 56, a married mother of four, also becomes Georgia’s first Black woman elected to any statewide constitutional office. The Associated Press called the race at 9:24. “This win is for all of us,” Bottoms told supporters at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. “Thank you Georgia, I am honored to be your 84th governor.”

Jackson’s $200 Million Campaign Falls Short

Bottoms beat Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive whose February entry into the race upended the Republican primary and ousted Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a June runoff. According to WCTV, Jackson Healthcare ranks among the biggest U.S. healthcare staffing companies, generating $3 billion in annual revenue and operating across all 50 states. Yahoo News reported that Jackson spent over $200 million on his campaign. After the loss, Jackson told Republican supporters he respected the voters’ decision and called Bottoms to congratulate her: “Keisha Lance Bottoms deserves our congratulations and our prayers as she prepares to take office.”

Bottoms avoided a runoff entirely in the May Democratic primary, clearing the threshold against former Labor commissioner and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and former state Sen. Jason Esteves, WCTV reported.

From Atlanta City Hall to the Governor’s Mansion

Bottoms’ career spans Atlanta City Council (2010–2017), one term as Atlanta’s 60th mayor (2018–2022), and a stint as President Joe Biden’s director of public engagement (2022–23), WCTV reported. She chose not to seek reelection as mayor in 2022. Her mayoral tenure included clashes with Gov. Brian Kemp over COVID-19 business closures and mask mandates, the 2020 police shooting of Rayshard Brooks, and the killing of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner near the same Wendy’s on July 4, 2020. During her time as mayor, she created the city’s first fully staffed office dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion, ended cash bail citywide, introduced the Open Checkbook transparency platform, and hosted Super Bowl LIII.

Her gubernatorial platform centered on expanding Medicaid to lower healthcare costs, bringing down housing costs, fully funding Georgia’s schools, building workforce and affordable housing, protecting Black voting rights, and pausing data center construction in one of the nation’s epicenters for such development, Yahoo News reported.

What Supporters Said on Election Night

Political commentator Symone Sanders Townsend said on MSNBC that the 2024 election had felt like a repudiation of Black women, but that “tonight, a Black woman fought back,” Yahoo News reported. Supporters at the watch party included celebrities Tyrese Gibson, Young Joc and Killer Mike, with attendees holding “Madame Governor” signs. Kandice Bell, 37, told Capital B Atlanta she was “ecstatic because Keisha looks like me and our ancestors fought and died for this.”

Questions Voters Still Have After the Race

Rick Jackson spent over $200 million of his own money on the campaign, according to Yahoo News.

A Black woman has run for Georgia governor before. Yes — former state lawmaker Stacey Abrams ran unsuccessful campaigns in 2018 and 2022, WCTV reported. Bottoms is the first to win.

What remains unanswered is how Bottoms will govern: she has promised to be a governor for all of Georgia, and Jackson and Bottoms agreed on election night to continue supporting foster children across the state — a cause central to Jackson’s personal story of living in Atlanta projects and foster homes.