Keisha Lance Bottoms elected Georgia governor, the first Black woman elected governor in the US, AP projects
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta, was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday night, the Associated Press projected, defeating Republican businessman Rick Jackson, who had President Trump's endorsement. The AP says she is the first Black woman elected governor in the United States and that hers is the first governorship to change parties in this year's midterms. In Florida the same night, the AP called the governor's race for Republican Byron Donalds, who becomes the state's first Black governor.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday, the Associated Press projected, making history as the first Black woman to be elected governor in the United States. She defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson, who had President Donald Trump's endorsement, and flipped a governorship that Republicans have held since the 2002 election, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The AP describes it as the first gubernatorial pickup for either party in this year's midterms.
Bottoms, 56, is a former mayor of Atlanta. NPR notes that her win is the first time in more than 20 years that Georgia has elected a Democratic governor, and the Guardian adds that she will also be Georgia's first female governor. The AJC wrote that Georgia had never before elected a woman or a Black person to its highest office, and that she overcame unprecedented spending by Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive who defeated a crowded Republican primary field.
Exa's election-data page, which tracks AP results, showed Bottoms ahead by about 54.4% to 45.6% with 82% of the expected vote counted at 10:17 p.m. ET (05:17 Romania time); it listed the race as called at about 9:24 p.m. ET. That is a partial count and the final margin may change. NPR reports that Bottoms will likely work with a Republican majority in at least one chamber of the Georgia legislature.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, who won re-election in Georgia earlier in the evening, congratulated her in his victory speech. "Georgia, you did it!" he told supporters, CBS News reported. Georgia's two top statewide races, the Senate seat and the governorship, were both won by Democrats on the same night, in a state Trump carried in 2024.
Also on Tuesday night, the AP called the Florida governor's race for Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, who defeated Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican congressman, and becomes Florida's first Black governor, succeeding term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Guardian also reported that Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. territory. Follow the full results in our live midterms coverage.
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