by Alander Rocha and Ariel Hart, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]
November 3, 2026
Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, will be the first Democrat to occupy Georgia’s top office in more than two decades and the first Black woman governor anywhere in the country.
Bottoms defeated her Republican opponent, healthcare executive Rick Jackson, who was endorsed by both outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp and President Donald Trump and who spent $200 million of his own money on the race.
The Associated Press called the race just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Bottoms in her victory speech echoed the themes of affordability and healthcare that carried her through the race.
“This win is for the veteran who needs access to healthcare,” she said. “It’s for the college student who wonders if the cost of their education is worth it, it is for the teenager who’s asked about mental health support. This win is for the caregiver who can’t afford healthcare and needs Georgia to finally expand Medicaid,” she said to a roaring crowd.
Citing entrepreneurs, farmers and teachers trying to stay afloat, she added, “Georgia, this win is for all of us.”
Thanking her supporters and campaign workers, Bottoms said, “You’ve shown that no amount of money will ever – never, ever, ever – overcome the power of the people.”
Bottoms will be the state’s first Democratic governor since former Gov. Roy Barnes lost his bid for reelection in 2002. Republicans have had a grip on state government since Sonny Perdue won that election. Kemp has strong approval ratings but is term-limited and can’t run again.
Bottoms did not shy away from the historic nature of her win, both for her and the arc of the state. She recounted a visit she made the day before her election to her ancestral home of Crawfordville, where she said her family traces its roots “at least five generations.”
“It was the town that was home to the former governor of Georgia and the vice president of the Confederate States of America, Alexander Stevens,” she said.
“I visited the grave of Betsy Peek, my great-great grandmother, who was born in 1845, 20 years before emancipation. In a cemetery filled with unmarked graves, I found hers. I don’t know what dreams Betsy Peek had for her children or for her grandchildren or the generations that she would never meet. But I know I am standing on shoulders made of steel.
“So yes, Crawfordville produced the Confederacy’s vice president,” Bottoms said. “But tonight it also produced your next governor.”
Bottoms, who served in the Biden administration after leaving city hall, ran a centrist campaign focused on pocketbook issues. In response to concerns over the massive growth of data centers and their impact on Georgians’ power bills, Bottoms proposed a pause on their construction. She proposed a mechanism for local governments to cut taxes on groceries and basic household goods.
Medicaid expansion was central to her campaign, just as it had been for the Democratic nominees who preceded her. Bottoms framed it as a way for the state to fund more healthcare services and prevent further hospital closures.
With her win, Bottoms was able to accomplish what Democrat Stacey Abrams narrowly missed doing nearly a decade ago. Abrams was about 55,000 votes short of beating Kemp in 2018, and Georgia’s statewide elections have been closely watched ever since.
But Bottoms’ victory this year was far from certain. She and Jackson were neck and neck throughout the campaign, with Bottoms appearing to gain momentum as Election Day neared.
Jackson, in a five-minute speech to supporters at his election night watch party in north Atlanta, said he called Bottoms to concede shortly before he walked out to address the crowd. A few supporters booed after he said he had conceded, which he interrupted and said, “No, no. That’s fine.”
“Tonight the voters spoke, and I respect their decision. This was a hard-fought election. Keisha Lance Bottoms deserves our congratulations and our prayers as she prepares to take office,” Jackson said.
Jackson said that he’ll continue to use his fortune “to be a steward of that money and have kingdom impact.”
“It’s how I built the business that employs thousands of Georgians and saves lives every day. It’s why I fought hard for foster children throughout the state, and it’s why we’ve invested millions in philanthropy for Christian causes here in Georgia and around the world. I know it’s not my money; it’s God’s money,” Jackson said.
Both candidates attracted high-profile national figures to Georgia, including former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris who made appearances here during early voting to energize voters. On the Republican side, President Donald Trump visited the state twice during early voting, and other national Republicans like Sens. Rick Scott and Ted Cruz dropped in too in hopes of turning out conservative voters even as their chances of flipping Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat seemed to slip away.
Bottoms’ run for the governor’s seat has been a bruising one. She faced an uphill battle against the millions of dollars Jackson spent flooding the airwaves with ads depicting her record as mayor as catastrophic for Atlanta. Scenes from 2020 flashed repeatedly on screens across the state, reminding voters of the Wendy’s fast food restaurant and police cars that were set ablaze during protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in Minnesota.
Jackson’s campaign attempted to make Secoriea Turner, an 8-year-old Atlanta girl who was killed during those protests, an icon of Bottoms’ alleged failures as mayor in spite of Turner’s family’s wishes.
Jackson’s campaign also framed Bottoms’ decision not to seek a second term in 2022 as her abandoning Atlanta at a difficult time, often repeating the line “bad mayors don’t make good governors” on the campaign trail.
Noting Jackson’s call to concede the race, Bottoms said she’d thanked him for a hard-fought race.
“We agreed that together we would continue to support foster children across the state,” she said. “And no matter who you voted for tonight, I will be a governor for all of Georgia.”
But in the last few weeks leading up to Election Day, Democrats in and outside of Georgia came to Bottoms’ rescue. She raised about five times as much during the final reporting period as she did during the rest of her entire campaign, and in the last few days of the race, she received a $5 million boost from the Democratic Governors Association and another $2.5 million from former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg.
Kemp initially backed Jackson’s rival in the GOP primary, but he has campaigned vigorously with Jackson in the general election, with the two men frequently seen together at rallies and campaign stops across the state. Kemp has touted the state’s economic strength and his administration’s focus on tax cuts on the campaign trail, pitching Jackson as the best person to succeed him and continue moving Georgia on a similar path.
But the state’s economy and population grew, so did concerns over the cost of living, which gave Bottoms and other down-ballot Democrats an opportunity to campaign on what consistently polled as voters’ prevailing concern this year both nationally and here in Georgia.
November 4, 2026, 1:31 am: This story was updated with the latest.
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