Keisha Lance Bottoms elected Georgia’s first Black female governor

Keisha Lance Bottoms made history Tuesday night by becoming Georgia’s 84th governor and the nation’s first Black female governor, Atlanta News First reported. She defeated Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive, ending a long Democratic drought in Georgia’s executive mansion.

Bottoms, who previously served as Atlanta’s mayor from 2018 to 2022 and held a seat on the Atlanta City Council from 2010 to 2017, also became Georgia’s first Black woman elected to any statewide constitutional office, according to Atlanta News First.

Her political career includes serving as President Joe Biden’s director of public engagement from 2022 to 2023. During her mayoral tenure, Bottoms focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion, eliminated cash bail bonds in the city, and oversaw Atlanta’s financial transparency platform and the staging of Super Bowl LIII.

Bottoms’ platform for governor emphasized lowering healthcare costs through Medicaid expansion, reducing housing costs, and fully funding Georgia’s schools. She will be inaugurated in January, according to Atlanta News First.