(The Center Square) – Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms defeated Republican Rick Jackson in a race that defied the polls showing the two in a tight race.
The former Atlanta mayor led 55% of the vote to Jackson’s 45% when the race was called by The Associated Press and other news outlets. She will be Georgia’s first Black governor and the first woman to hold the office.
Jackson entered the race just weeks before the primary and defeated Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a heated June runoff. Jones announced his candidacy in late 2025 and was endorsed by President Donald Trump and two-term Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. Jackson received the endorsement of the president and the governor after defeating Jones.
Bottoms defeated former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former state Sen. Jason Esteves and former Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond and others. Her tenure as Atlanta mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic became a rallying cry for Jackson, who said on the campaign trail, “Bad mayors don’t make good governors.”
Both candidates attracted high-profile endorsements. Former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned for Bottoms in the last week of the campaign. President Donald Trump made two stops in Georgia, one in the northwest Georgia city of Dalton and the second in the middle Georgia town of Perry.
The governor’s race was called two hours after Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff won his second term, defeating Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins.
Democrats were leading all statewide offices from attorney general to labor commissioner at the time of publication.
