(AFP) – Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, won the race for governor in the southern state of Georgia on Tuesday, making her the first Black woman elected to the top office in any US state, media projections showed. CNN and NBC News called the race in her favor. Bottoms defeated billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson, the Republican candidate. Outgoing Republican Governor Brian Kemp was term-limited and could not run again.
Her win returns the governor’s office to Democrats after more than two decades of Republican control. The result is a setback for President Donald Trump, who endorsed Jackson in July and campaigned with him in the Atlanta area in the closing weeks of the race. Former president Barack Obama rallied for Bottoms in Georgia in late October.
Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff also won re-election on Tuesday, defeating Republican congressman Mike Collins, in a result that confirms Georgia’s status as a key swing state after it backed Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2024.
Bottoms served as Atlanta mayor from 2018 to 2022 and did not seek a second term. She then joined the Biden White House as director of the Office of Public Engagement and later served as a senior adviser to Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.
During her campaign, Bottoms promised to expand Medicaid, lower costs for families, and protect voting rights. Jackson entered the race in February and presented himself as a political outsider who had grown up in Georgia’s foster care system. He spent more than $100 million of his own fortune on the campaign and defeated Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, Trump’s original pick, in a June primary runoff.
© 2024 AFP
