Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s race for governor, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Rick Jackson and flipping control of the battleground state office for the first time in 24 years.
asserted
News → win → years
Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and a former Biden administration official, overcame an enormous spending disadvantage against Jackson, a wealthy healthcare executive who pumped more than $100 million of his own money into his campaign.
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who → overcome → campaign
Bottoms is the first woman and the first Black person to be elected governor of Georgia.
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Bottoms → elect → Georgia
Like many Democrats across the country, Bottoms leaned heavily into a message focusing on affordability and economic issues.
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Bottoms → lean → affordability
Down the late fall stretch, she also ran ads that hit Jackson over previous comments supporting the construction of data centers and linked Jackson to President Donald Trump, who faced low approval ratings in the state.
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who → run → state
Throughout a contentious Republican primary this spring, Jackson had frequently compared himself to Trump, allowing Bottoms to use much of his own words against him during the general election.
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Bottoms → compare → election
During their sole general election debate last month, Bottoms slammed Jackson for having “said he wants to be Trump’s favorite governor.”
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he → slam → Jackson
She also attempted to tie Jackson to Trump’s yearslong effort to sow doubt over the results of the 2020 election.
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She → attempt → election
The issue remains particularly pertinent in Georgia, as the FBI seized election records related to the 2020 election earlier this year, and the governor will play a critical role in the certification of the 2028 presidential election results.
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governor → remain → results
During the primary, Jackson refused to say who won the 2020 election.
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who → refuse → election
, he acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory.
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he → acknowledge → victory
Bottoms, who will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, also linked herself to popular Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who was up for re-election this year.
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who → succeed → election
Ossoff held several “United for Georgia” rallies with Bottoms, while his campaign also transferred millions in cash to the Democratic Party of Georgia’s coordinated campaign to help Bottoms.
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campaign → hold → Bottoms
Her win marks a landmark moment for Georgia Democrats.
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win → mark → Democrats
While Georgia emerged as a key battleground in federal elections in recent years, it has continued to skew Republican at the state level: Before Tuesday, Georgia voters hadn’t elected a Democrat governor since 1998.
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voters → emerge → 1998
In the last weeks of the campaign, Bottoms enjoyed support from high-profile national Democrats.
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Bottoms → enjoy → Democrats
Former President Barack Obama endorsed her in a video spot, while Maryland Gov. Wes Moore; Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear; Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; and several other prominent Democratic officeholders campaigned for her in Georgia.
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Moore → endorse → Georgia
Bottoms overcame sustained attacks from Republicans over her tenure as Atlanta mayor from 2018 to 2022.
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Bottoms → overcome → 2022
Her four years in office were affected by the Covid pandemic and the social unrest that came during it — and Bottoms didn’t run for re-election, citing the challenges she’d faced in office.
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she → affect → office
Jackson, a first-time candidate who unexpectedly launched his campaign in February, cast himself as a successful businessman and outsider in the mold of Trump during the primary, even though another candidate, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, had Trump’s endorsement.
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candidate → launch → endorsement
Once he advanced to the general election, Jackson shifted to connecting himself to Kemp.
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Jackson → advance → Kemp
Some intraparty fractures were never fully resolved after a bruising primary.
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fractures → resolve → primary
Jones, who lost to Jackson in a June runoff, never publicly backed his rival, despite Trump having privately urged him to do so.
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Trump → lose → him
The Aporia
