When Georgia’s votes were counted after Tuesday’s election, Keisha Lance Bottoms had done something no woman in American history had done before her: she became the first Black woman ever elected governor of a U.S. state.
Bottoms, a 56-year-old Democrat and former mayor of Atlanta, defeated Republican Rick Jackson. With about 95% of the vote counted, she led 54.2% to 45.8%, according to Newsweek. She will succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term-limited, and her win flips an office Republicans had held for more than two decades.
Who she is
Bottoms is best known nationally from her time as mayor of Atlanta, Georgia’s capital and largest city. NPR described her win as making her the nation’s first Black female governor, a first in more than two centuries of American statehouses.
In her victory remarks, Bottoms said she was standing on “shoulders made of steel,” a nod to the generations of Black women who ran and organized before her. Since the election, she has also struck a practical note. ABC News reported that the governor-elect said she hopes to find common ground with the Trump administration as she prepares to take office.
Her opponent
Rick Jackson is a billionaire businessman and the founder of Jackson Healthcare, a company that supplies contract nurses and other workers to hospitals and health systems. He grew up in foster care and has spoken openly about a difficult childhood. Jackson spent more than $200 million of his own money on the race and won President Trump’s endorsement after defeating the president’s preferred candidate in the Republican primary, Newsweek reported.
After the results came in, Jackson said Georgia voters had spoken and that he respected their decision.
What each candidate ran on
The race gave Georgians two very different plans:
- Bottoms campaigned on expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, raising pay for teachers, firefighters and police, pausing new data center development, limiting the expansion of AI-powered surveillance cameras and overturning Georgia’s six-week abortion law.
- Jackson campaigned on cutting the state income tax in half in his first term and eventually phasing it out, pledging not to seek a second term if he failed. He proposed expanding health coverage through partnerships with private insurers and supported keeping Georgia’s current abortion law, including its exceptions.
Part of a bigger moment for women in office
Bottoms’ win came in a year when a record number of women ran for governor. U.S. News reported that 26 women were on general election ballots for governor this year, and NBC News reported that at least 17 women will now serve as governors at the same time, a new high. We looked back at another groundbreaking first this week: Jeannette Rankin’s 1916 election as the first woman in Congress.
Why it matters for families
Governors shape the things families feel most: public school funding, health coverage, roads, taxes and public safety. Whatever your politics, the next few months will show how Bottoms works with a state legislature and a federal government with different priorities. If you live in Georgia, watch for her transition team announcements and her first budget proposals.
What to watch next
The next step is the transition: watch for Bottoms to announce her leadership team and early priorities before she takes office. Upstormed News will follow her transition and the first decisions of the new administration.
What “first” in your family or community are you most proud of? Share it in the comments.
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Sources: Newsweek, “Keisha Lance Bottoms Beats Rick Jackson, Becomes First Black Woman Governor” (Nov. 2026); NPR, “Georgia elects Keisha Lance Bottoms the nation’s first Black female governor” (Nov. 3, 2026); ABC News, “Election 2026 live updates” (Nov. 7, 2026); U.S. News, “Record number of women running for governor” (Nov. 2, 2026); NBC News, “Record number of female governors elected” (Nov. 2026).
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