Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s race for governor Tuesday, overcoming unprecedented spending by Republican billionaire Rick Jackson to become the first Black woman in U.S. history elected to lead a state government.
Her victory shattered barriers in a state that had never elected a woman or a Black person to its highest office. It also marked a stunning reversal for Republicans, who have controlled the Governor’s Mansion since Sonny Perdue toppled Democrat Roy Barnes in 2002 to become the first Republican elected governor since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
The election also marked a remarkable political comeback for Bottoms, who survived a bruising campaign that put her turbulent four-year tenure as Atlanta mayor under a microscope and tested whether Georgians trusted her with the keys to the state’s top job. Ref: AJC
