Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has made history after winning Georgia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US state.
Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson in Tuesday’s election, according to projections by US media, in a closely watched contest in the battleground state.
The 56-year-old will also become Georgia’s first female governor, succeeding Republican Brian Kemp, who is leaving office after serving two consecutive terms.
Before her election, Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta and later held senior positions in former US President Joe Biden’s administration.
She worked as a senior adviser to Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Her election marks a historic moment for Black women in American politics, who have played a significant role in the Democratic Party but remain underrepresented in top elected positions.
Bottoms’ victory came on the same night Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, becoming the first Black woman to lead a US jurisdiction.
In Florida, Republican Congressman Byron Donalds also won the governorship, becoming the first Black Republican elected governor in the United States.
Victory follows years of Democratic mobilisation in Georgia
Bottoms’ emergence as governor 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 expand Democratic voter mobilisation across the state.
The efforts 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.
Republicans had controlled Georgia’s governorship for more than two decades before Bottoms’ victory.
Her opponent, Jackson, is a billionaire businessman and founder of healthcare staffing company Jackson Healthcare. He campaigned as a political outsider, promising tax cuts, improved public safety and reduced government regulation.
Bottoms’ election adds to the growing representation of Black women in political leadership across the United States.
