Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, decisively won the Democratic primary for Georgia governor on Tuesday night, advancing to what is expected to be one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country this November. The Associated Press called the race at 10:30 p.m. local time.
Bottoms’ campaign centered on protecting voting rights, supporting rural farmers, and expanding healthcare. Georgia is one of 10 states that has not adopted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and Bottoms made the issue a central pillar of her pitch to Democratic primary voters.
Bottoms spent the week before the election campaigning across the state, and it paid off. She won significant majorities in Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, and rural areas throughout the state.
Her victory sets up a high stakes general election against whichever Republican emerges from an expensive and contentious runoff between Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones and billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson. That race has already cost nearly $100M and exposed fault lines within the state’s GOP, potentially leaving the eventual nominee weakened heading into November.
Bottoms, by contrast, ran a remarkably lean campaign. She spent a little more than $1 million, relying instead on name recognition built over years of experience in Georgia politics.
That familiarity was tested during the Democratic primary. Former state Senator Jason Esteves, her most prominent challenger, attempted to use a debate in May to challenge Bottoms on her record as mayor, raising questions about crime. The attacks failed to gain traction with voters, who appeared more interested in Bottoms’ forward-looking agenda than in her time at City Hall.
What may have insulated her most is the story she has told about her own life.
Bottoms is at least a fifth-generation Georgian, a fact she wears as a badge of honor. She is also the daughter of Major Lance, the famous Southern R&B singer. In her recently released memoir, The Rough Side of the Mountain, Bottoms recounts a childhood shaped by her father’s addiction and incarceration, as well as experiences of sexual abuse. However, the book also charts her rise to become one of the most prominent Black women in American politics.
Whether that attention holds in a general election will depend, in part, on what the Republican primary produces. Jones has the endorsement of President Donald Trump; Jackson has a seemingly unlimited war chest. Either way, the eventual nominee will have to consolidate a Republican base that has watched its candidates spend months in conflict. For now, the Democrats have clarity.
