Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic gubernatorial primary in Georgia, avoiding a runoff and setting up a chance to make history. 

Bottoms served as the mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and then led the White House’s public engagement efforts under President Joe Biden, who has backed her campaign in a rare post-presidential endorsement. 

When Bottoms  jumped into the open governor’s race a year ago to replace Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, it was already set to be one of the most highly watched and consequential in the nation. While Georgia has two Democratic U.S. senators, it hasn’t elected a Democrat to the governor’s office in 25 years. A recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court giving red states the green light to eliminate majority-Black districts has only further raised the stakes of the race and energized the Democratic base. 

“The power is in our hands, the ability to shape the future for generations not yet born,” Bottoms said Sunday at a meet-and-greet with voters near Augusta. “We’ve got a lot of challenges facing us, many of which I thought were battles that have been fought and won, but now it’s our turn.”

The three main candidates vying to get into a runoff with Bottoms were Michael Thurmond, the former DeKalb County executive; former state Sen. Jason Esteves; and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican-turned-Democrat who resisted President Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election. 

Bottoms could also make history as Georgia’s first woman governor and the first Black woman elected governor in United States history. Stacey Abrams sought to break that barrier as the Democratic nominee for governor in 2018 and 2022 but lost twice in a row to Kemp. But Bottoms first needs to get through a contentious general election.

Republicans have a runoff of their own, between Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who is endorsed by Trump, and billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, who has spent over $50 million of his own money in the race.

Walter Cheatham, an attendee at Bottoms’ event in Evans, asked her why he hadn’t seen more of the ads she has up on television. 

“What you’re missing is Rick Jackson’s money,” she said. 

“It’s not for a lack of will or resources,” she added. “It’s not just me, it’s on the Democratic side. period.” 

In an interview, Bottoms told The 19th that she hoped to avoid a runoff so Democrats could move on to the general election.  

“The Republicans may have the money right now, but we still have the power with our votes,” she said. “I do believe that once we get past Tuesday — hopefully I will be the nominee on Tuesday — we can begin to consolidate resources, consolidate as a party, and be stronger and better suited for the general in November.” 

Bottoms has faced criticism from both her Democratic opponents and from Jackson, who is already airing television ads attacking her over her record leading Atlanta in a tumultuous period, including the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over police violence against Black Americans. Bottoms has defended her record as mayor and made the case that her experience leading the state’s largest city well equips her for the job.  

Both Duncan and Esteves have also vocally criticized Bottoms for  a mid-April interview in which she did not commit to running for a second term, especially in light of the Supreme Court ruling, with both telling The 19th they thought it could be a vulnerability for her. But Bottoms told a local television interviewer last week that if she wins, she does plan to run for a second term, a commitment she reiterated to The 19th at the campaign stop near Augusta. 

Voters at Bottoms’ event in Evans said they believed Bottoms was their best bet to protect democracy. Peggy Greco, who asked Bottoms how she’d handle potential efforts to subvert the 2028 election results in the state, said she hoped Bottoms would “save our democracy,” which she described as “hanging by a thread.”

“I don’t have anyone else I’d rather see,” another voter, Dolly Jones, said. “I pray she will do all she can to be a governor for all people.”

Trump has also loomed large on both sides of the race. Bottoms has released a tongue-in-cheek ad featuring two men representing Jones and Jackson with a donkey and a voice-over calling the Republican primary “two grown men fighting to kiss the ass of an ass.”

“It’s embarrassing,” Bottoms says in the ad. “Unlike some people, I’m not running to be Donald Trump. I’m running to stand up to him.”

When asked how she’d approach the Trump administration as governor, Bottoms said that she was  “willing to work with anybody” to benefit Georgians but that she’s “also willing to fight when necessary.”

“It would be great if we could have a great working relationship with the White House, and I’m not going to assume that we won’t, but I am a realist,” she told The 19th. “Those things we gotta fight back on, those things we gotta go to court on, those things I gotta speak out on, I’m going to always be willing to do that as I always have.”

Also in Georgia, incumbents held on in two technically nonpartisan races for seats on the state’s Supreme Court attracted millions in outside spending. Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren defeated liberal challenger Jen Jordan in one of those races, Decision Desk HQ projects, and Justice Charlie Bethel bested challenger Miracle Rankin. The candidates and outside groups put abortion rights front and center in their campaigns, attacking the incumbent justices for upholding the state’s six-week ban.