Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s gubernatorial race, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Rick Jackson and flipping control of the battleground state office for the first time in 24 years.
Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor and former Biden administration official, overcame a huge spending disadvantage compared to Jackson, a wealthy health care executive who pumped more than $100 million of his own money into his campaign.
Bottoms is the first woman and first black person to be elected governor of Georgia. She is also the first black female governor in the country’s history.
Like many Democrats across the country, Bottoms leaned heavily on a message focused on affordability and economic issues. In late fall, she also aired ads that hit Jackson over previous comments in favor of data center construction and linked him to President Donald Trump, who was facing low approval ratings in the state.
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Throughout the contentious Republican primary campaign in the spring, Jackson often compared himself to Trump, allowing Bottoms to use many of his own words against him in the general election.
During their only general election debate last month, Bottoms criticized Jackson for “saying he wanted to be Trump’s favorite governor.” She also attempted to link Jackson to Trump’s years-long effort to sow doubt about the 2020 election results. The issue remains particularly relevant in Georgia, where the FBI this year seized election records related to the 2020 election, and where the governor will play a critical role in certifying the results of the 2028 presidential election.
During the primary, Jackson refused to say who won the 2020 election. But before his matchup against Bottoms, he acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory.
Bottoms, who will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, also linked up with popular Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who was up for re-election this year.
Ossoff held several “Unite for Georgia” rallies with Bottoms, while his campaign also transferred millions in cash to the Georgia Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign to help.
His victory marks a historic moment for Georgia Democrats. While Georgia has become a key battleground in federal elections in recent years, it has continued to skew Republican at the state level: Before Tuesday, Georgia voters had not elected a Democratic governor since 1998.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Bottoms enjoyed support from prominent national Democrats. Former President Barack Obama endorsed her in a video spot, while Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia, and several other prominent Democratic officials campaigned for her in Georgia.
Bottoms weathered sustained attacks from Republicans during her tenure as Atlanta mayor from 2018 to 2022. Her four years in office were affected by the Covid pandemic and accompanying social unrest — and she did not run for reelection, citing challenges she had faced in office.
Jackson, a first-time candidate who launched his campaign unexpectedly in February, presented himself as a successful businessman and an outsider in the Trump mold during the primary campaign, even though another candidate, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, had Trump’s support. Once advanced to the general election, Jackson began to connect with Kemp.
Some intraparty fractures were never completely resolved after a deadly primary. Jones, who lost to Jackson in a June runoff, has never publicly supported his rival, although Trump has privately urged him to do so.
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