Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has been elected governor of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman to be elected governor of a US state as midterm results are declared.
The former Atlanta mayor, who will also be the first female governor of the state, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson, according to US media projections. CNN is calling the Georgia governor's race for Bottoms, the daughter of Northern Soul legend Major Lance.
A Historic Victory in a Key Battleground
Bottoms won Georgia's race for governor on Tuesday, delivering Democrats a victory in one of the nation's most closely divided political battlegrounds. She succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is leaving office after serving two consecutive terms.
Bottoms, 56, previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The victory marks a new milestone for Black women in American politics, who have long been a core base within the Democratic Party but remain underrepresented in the nation's highest elected offices.
Republican Wins in Florida
In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds is projected to become the first Black governor of the Sunshine State. He defeated David Jolly, a former Republican who switched to the Democrats, by just 1.3 per cent with 98 per cent of votes counted.
The same evening, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, a US territory, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US jurisdiction.
Shift in Georgia Politics
Bottoms' win marks a significant shift in Georgia state politics, where Black voters have formed a central part of the Democratic coalition that helped turn the reliably Republican state into a national battleground. Republicans had controlled the governor's office for more than two decades.
Jackson, the billionaire founder of healthcare staffing company Jackson Healthcare, cast himself as a political outsider and campaigned on tax cuts, public safety and reducing government regulation.
Bottoms' victory comes eight years after fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams became the first Black woman nominated for governor by a major US political party. Abrams lost governor's races in Georgia in 2018 and 2022, but her campaigns helped build a multigenerational, multiracial coalition that boosted Democratic turnout, helped elect two Democratic US senators and delivered Georgia's electoral votes to a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in decades.
