If Keisha Lance Bottoms wins the people’s vote on Tuesday, Nov. 3, she will become the first Black woman to serve as Georgia’s governor. She will also make history as the first former Atlanta mayor to hold the state’s highest office.
Bottoms previously said she would be the first because she was “working to earn people’s votes across the state.”
“So just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” she said during a campaign event in Columbus, Georgia, in November 2025. At the time, she was among seven candidates seeking the party’s nomination.
Now, she faces Republican health care executive Rick Jackson in the upcoming election. Both candidates are seeking to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who cannot seek a third consecutive term.
Background And Previous Experience
Bottoms served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from Jan. 2, 2018, to Jan. 3, 2022. She faced criticism after becoming the first mayor since World War II to serve only a single four-year term.
She also served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under the Biden administration. Bottoms describes herself as a “battle-tested leader” who is ready to fight for Georgians.
Bottoms graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Atlanta and earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University. She later earned her law degree from Georgia State University.
She is the daughter of the late 1960s soul crooner Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson. Throughout her campaign, Bottoms has spoken openly about her father’s imprisonment on drug charges and her mother’s decision to attend cosmetology school at night to support the family. She has credited these experiences with motivating her to study law and pursue public service.
Bottoms married Derek W. Bottoms, an attorney, in October 1994. Together, they have four children.
Before becoming Atlanta’s mayor, Bottoms was elected to the Atlanta City Council in 2009, representing District 11 in the city’s southwest region. She was reelected in 2013.
Campaign Platform: Cost Of Living
Affordability has become central in Bottoms’ race against billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, with the cost-of-living crisis a major focus of her campaign.
She proposes establishing a $250 million state fund to help subsidize local governments facing potential revenue losses. She has also called for reducing the state gas tax to 28 cents per gallon to provide immediate relief at the pump.
Bottoms has pointed to her past support for establishing a $15-an-hour baseline wage for municipal workers in Atlanta as she advocates for raising Georgia’s minimum wage above the federal minimum of $7.25.
Additionally, she proposes a starting salary of $60,000 for public school teachers and eliminating state income taxes for teachers as part of her education and recruitment platform.
Campaign Platform: Health Care And Maternal Health
Bottoms supports full Medicaid expansion and has been outspoken in her criticism of Georgia’s current limited program, Georgia Pathways, arguing that it does not cover enough residents.
Under full Medicaid expansion, the federal government covers 90% of the cost of new enrollees. Currently, Georgia receives roughly 66% in federal funding for Pathways enrollees.
During the Oct. 6 Atlanta News First town hall, Bottoms proposed taking stronger action against insurance companies that repeatedly deny coverage. She also said patients should be notified when artificial intelligence (AI) is used to review their claims.
Bottoms also wants to expand prenatal and postpartum care in underserved communities. Her proposals include strengthening the workforce of obstetricians, midwives, doulas and community health workers.
Campaign Platform: Education
Bottoms has proposed reforms and investments to expand early childhood education in Georgia, focusing on fulfilling the state’s decades-old universal pre-K commitment. The program is currently struggling to keep up with demand in some areas.
Georgia’s pre-K program is intended to provide a free spot for every 4-year-old whose parent wants to enroll them. However, a classroom shortage has made it difficult to fulfill that universal promise.
Bottoms has proposed a plan to fund a place for every 4-year-old, but financing the initiative would depend on voters approving a constitutional amendment legalizing casino gambling.
Campaign Platform: Voting Access
Bottoms supports legislation that would designate Election Day as a state holiday. The proposal aims to address voting access barriers by extending voting hours and allowing college students to register using a verified campus ID.
She also wants to eliminate the state election board and establish additional protections for poll workers.
During the Oct. 6 debate, the former mayor accused Jackson of supporting deploying the National Guard during the next election. Jackson denied the claims.
Campaign Platform: Data Centers And Surveillance
On data centers, Bottoms has called for a statewide pause on all new construction until Georgia develops a comprehensive plan to address their impact across the state.
According to Bottoms, the pause would allow officials time to study the effects of data center development on the environment, utility bills and the communities where the facilities are built.
She is also open to a moratorium on installing new Flock license-plate cameras as officials examine privacy concerns and establish safeguards against potential misuse of the surveillance technology.
Criticism And Current Polls
Jackson has made Bottoms’ tenure as Atlanta mayor a centerpiece of his campaign.
In a campaign statement, Jackson spokesman Garrison Douglas called her “a disaster as mayor,” pointing to the 157 homicides reported in Atlanta in 2020, the city’s highest number since 1996.
Bottoms argues that those attacks overlook the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread upheaval cities across the country experienced. Nationwide, homicides reportedly increased by 30% in 2020. She has also pointed to the police pay raises she secured as mayor to counter claims that she does not support law enforcement.
Bottoms maintains that she left the mayor’s office on her own terms, despite criticism surrounding her decision not to seek reelection in 2021. Jackson, however, has told crowds that she “walked away from the fight.”
Another Republican talking point centers on a $37,000 state fine Bottoms’ 2017 campaign paid in 2021. State officials described some of the violations as procedural errors.
On Oct. 12, Bottoms appeared onstage alone, with an empty podium beside her, after Jackson skipped a televised Atlanta Press Club debate. His absence marked the first time in decades that a major-party nominee had skipped the debate.
As of 9:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, a total of 2,691,841 early, in-person ballots had been cast, setting a new record for Georgia. On Thursday, the state broke the previous record for early in-person voting set in the 2022 midterm elections, which was nearly 2.3 million votes.
Overall early turnout, including 118,329 absentee ballots, totaled 2,810,170, eclipsing the state’s previous midterm early—voting record of 2.5 million votes from four years ago.
The turnout amounts to roughly 37.3% of registered voters, according to the secretary of state’s office.
As early voting draws to a close, the AJC/UGA poll shows a closely contested race:
- Rick Jackson (R): 46%
- Keisha Lance Bottoms (D): 45%
- Undecided: 8%
The poll has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points. (Reported on Friday, October 30.)
