Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the race for Georgia governor on Tuesday, making history as the first Black woman to be elected governor in the country and flipping a governor’s mansion that had been held by Republicans for over two decades. With 72 percent of votes counted, Jackson had garnered 56 percent of the vote, while Bottoms had 44 percent. The race saw Jackson, a 72-year-old billionaire health tycoon and first-time candidate who largely self-funded his campaign, face Bottoms, the 56-year-old former mayor of Atlanta, to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Brian Kemp, in a crucial battleground state was expected to be among the closest contests of the midterms.
The state was carried by Republican President Donald Trump in 2024, after being won by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. President Trump endorsed Jackson, saying at a rally in July: “I watched this man run and he’s really phenomenal actually.” But Jackson focused less on Trump in the weeks leading up to Election Day, as Republican candidates faced a challenging environment amid Trump’s falling approval ratings as voters grew increasingly frustrated about high costs and the Iran war. Jackson leaned heavily on his biography, speaking about overcoming the struggles of his childhood, which he spent in foster care, to becoming a successful businessman.
He is the founder of Jackson Healthcare, a huge company that provides contract nurses and other workers to hospitals and health systems. "My father left me at nine months old. My mother was a sixth-grade educated waitress with a severe alcohol problem," Jackson said in his only debate against Bottoms last month.
"I had seven stepfathers before I was 12. I lived in the projects, went to 13 different schools, and lived in five different foster homes. I couldn’t afford to go to college, so I started my own business at 21." Promising to work for working-class voters, he added: "I know what it means to struggle.
I know what it means to get a second chance. And I’m running for governor to make sure every Georgian has that same opportunity." He also sought to center the race on Bottoms’ record as the mayor of Atlanta, criticizing her handling of protests in the city following the 2020 police killings of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and George Floyd in Minneapolis and arguing that “bad mayors don’t make good governors.” Bottoms, meanwhile, argued that Jackson would work for Trump rather than the people of Georgia, reminding voters that Jackson had vowed to govern like “Trump but with a Southern tone” and become the president’s “favorite” governor. He has also promises raises for public employee if elected, saying he can deliver on that while still phasing out the state income tax.
He has proposed expanding healthcare coverage through partnerships with private insurers. His approach would require a federal waiver and a level of federal financial support that no administration has provided to a state that has not expanded Medicaid directly, the AP reported. Bottoms campaigned on expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and increasing the pay of teachers, firefighters and police officers.
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