Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Georgia gubernatorial election on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, according to a race call by the Associated Press. Her victory marks the first time a Black woman has been elected governor in U.S. history and represents the first Democratic win for the office in Georgia since 1998. Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta and adviser to the Biden administration, defeated Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire healthcare executive.
The race occurred as Georgia continued its transition following the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. Outgoing Governor Brian Kemp (R) was ineligible to run for a third term due to state term limits. Bottoms achieved the win despite being outspent by Jackson, who invested more than $200 million of his personal wealth into his campaign. As of early Wednesday morning, Bottoms led with 54.4% of the vote (1,955,661 votes) to Jackson’s 45.6% (1,636,110 votes), with approximately 81% of ballots counted.
During the campaign, Bottoms focused on economic issues, including proposals to allow municipalities to eliminate sales taxes on groceries and to remove state income taxes for public school teachers. She also pledged to fully expand Medicaid, a move that requires approval from the state legislature. Jackson, who was endorsed by President Trump and Governor Kemp, ran ads criticizing Bottoms’ mayoral record, citing crime rates in Atlanta during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The victory shifts the executive leadership of the state for the first time in more than 20 years, though Bottoms is expected to work with a Republican majority in at least one legislative chamber. This split government may determine the feasibility of her campaign promises, such as the Medicaid expansion and a proposed moratorium on new data center construction—an industry where Georgia leads the nation. Bottoms joins a group of only three other Black governors, all men, ever elected in U.S. history.
What happens next involves the certification of the 2026 midterm results and the transition of power from the Kemp administration to the governor-elect. The specific date for Bottoms' inauguration and the start of the next legislative session, where her tax and healthcare proposals will be introduced, were not reported. The impact of her win on Georgia's political status follows the reelection of U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on the same night.