Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the race for governor of Georgia on Tuesday. She is the first black woman elected governor of a US state, the Daily Maverick reported, citing US media projections. The Eastleigh Voice reported the same result, based on Associated Press projections.
Bottoms, 56, is a former mayor of Atlanta. She beat Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire businessman who founded the healthcare staffing company Jackson Healthcare. She will also be Georgia's first female governor. She succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is leaving after two terms. Republicans had held the governor's office for more than two decades.
According to the Eastleigh Voice, the result is a major setback for President Donald Trump. He endorsed Jackson in July and campaigned with him around Atlanta in the final weeks of the race. Jackson ran as a political outsider who grew up in Georgia's foster care system. He spent more than $100 million of his own money on the campaign. He promised tax cuts, public safety and less regulation. Bottoms campaigned on expanding Medicaid health benefits for low-income people, lowering costs for families and protecting voting rights.
Bottoms is a descendant of enslaved Georgians, the Eastleigh Voice reported. She said her family can be traced back five generations to a plantation in Crawfordville. Before the vote, she said that what voters did in this moment would "echo through history". On the same evening, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor of the US Virgin Islands, a US territory, the Daily Maverick reported.
Bottoms' win comes eight years after Democrat Stacey Abrams became the first black woman nominated for governor by a major US party. Abrams lost to Kemp in 2018 and 2022 and chose not to run a third time. According to the Daily Maverick, her campaigns helped build the coalition that turned Georgia into a battleground.
Democrats were also projected to win in South Carolina. Republican Senator Darline Graham is projected to have lost to Democrat Annie Andrews, a former paediatrician, the BBC reported, citing its US partner CBS. It would be the Democrats' first such win in the state in 28 years. Trump won South Carolina by 18 points in 2024, the Nile Post reported.
Graham was appointed to the seat in July with Trump's support. She replaced her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, after his sudden death. She is a political newcomer. In a primary debate, asked about US policy on Taiwan, she said national security was "not my thing".