Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms Wins Georgia’s Governor Race

ATLANTA—Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms defeated healthcare billionaire and political outsider Rick Jackson in Georgia’s gubernatorial race.

Bottoms’s victory ended a more than two-decade streak of Republican governorships.

Jackson had raised more than $230 million, including $210 million from himself, and spent about $213 million on his campaign. Bottoms raised about $13.3 million and spent $11.4 million.

Jackson ran on the fact that he is a political outsider—not a career politician.

He vowed to enact term limits for public-office holders, audit every government program for effectiveness, and raise expectations in schools.

Jackson made his fortune from healthcare, and he campaigned on transforming it. He mentioned frequently his desire to empower parents and protect children, while ensuring biological boys are blocked from girl’s sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms. More broadly, Jackson has said he would end “woke” ideology in the state.

As a foster child, one of Jackson’s policies included reforming the system.

The billionaire also firmly supports law enforcement and its role in carrying out President Donald Trump’s agenda to deport criminal illegal immigrants in the United States.

Bottoms, who served as a senior adviser for public engagement under the Biden administration, ran on a platform of expanding Medicaid, building more affordable housing, and providing free tuition to technical and community colleges in the state.

Regarding law enforcement and public safety, she campaigned on expanding the Georgia Bureau of Investigations’ capacity and diversion and treatment options for non-violent criminal cases while investing in violence-reduction efforts.

Bottoms also stated she supports universal background checks, a red-flag law, and abortion access for women.

“I believe in protecting our environment, protecting our communities, and bringing down our power bills,” she said. “That is why we will pause construction on new data centers.”

Georgia election experts told The Epoch Times that Bottoms had the advantage of familiarity and name recognition when she entered the gubernatorial race from her tenure as mayor.

Jackson’s advantage was his resources, Jamie Carson, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, told The Epoch Times via email.

“Jackson’s extraordinary financial resources have allowed him to introduce himself to voters and dominate the airwaves in a way that would be impossible for most first-time candidates,” Carson said.

On the campaign trail, Jackson hammered his opponent’s record as mayor, accusing her of overseeing a crime-rate increase from 2018 to 2022, which coincided with the Black Lives Matter protests and riots in major cities across the country.

Voters who spoke to The Epoch Times earlier on Tuesday frequently brought up their disapproval of Bottoms’s tenure as mayor.

One such voter, William Parsons, cast his ballot in Elko, Georgia, with his wife for Georgia’s Republican candidates.

“Whether you vote blue or red doesn’t matter,” Parsons said. “You need to come up and vote.”

The Georgia native and his wife described themselves as “devout” Republicans for most of their lives.

Parsons then expressed his displeasure with Bottoms’s handling of Atlanta while she was mayor.

“I don’t like the gal who’s running for governor, the Democrat,” he said. “[Bottoms] gave up on Atlanta.”

Georgia voters flocked to the polls in record numbers to vote early.

That trend continued for the duration of early voting in the state.