Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state and the first woman to lead Georgia.
The former Atlanta mayor defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson, according to US media projections, securing victory in one of the country’s most closely contested political battlegrounds.
Bottoms, 56, succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is leaving office after serving two consecutive terms.
She previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Her victory marks a significant milestone for Black women in American politics, who have long been a major constituency within the Democratic Party but remain underrepresented in the country’s highest elected offices.
The same evening, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, a US territory, becoming the first Black woman to lead a US jurisdiction.
In Florida, Republican US Representative Byron Donalds was also elected governor, becoming the first Black Republican to win a gubernatorial election in the United States.
Bottoms’ victory also signals a shift in Georgia’s political landscape, where Black voters have played a central role in the Democratic coalition that helped transform the traditionally Republican state into a national electoral battleground.
Republicans had controlled Georgia’s governor’s office for more than two decades.
Her Republican challenger, Jackson, a billionaire and founder of healthcare staffing company Jackson Healthcare, presented himself as a political outsider.
He campaigned on promises to cut taxes, strengthen public safety and reduce government regulation.
Bottoms’ election comes eight years after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams became the first Black woman nominated for governor by a major US political party.
Abrams lost Georgia’s gubernatorial elections in 2018 and 2022, but her campaigns helped build a multigenerational and multiracial coalition that increased Democratic voter turnout.
The coalition also contributed to the election of two Democratic US senators and helped deliver Georgia’s electoral votes to a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in decades.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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