Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms gives a speech after winning the Democratic primary for governor outright. Jeff Amy/Georgia Recorder
Georgia Democrats had seven candidates to choose from for their nomination for governor, but they knew who they wanted – former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
Bottoms won a majority in the Democratic primary Tuesday according to The Associated Press, clinching her party’s nod without the need for a runoff.
Her victory comes despite Republicans already targeting her for the city’s problems with crime, disorder and the pandemic before Bottoms became the first Atlanta mayor in decades to not seek reelection.
But whatever the general election holds, no other Democrat could overcome the fact that the 56-year-old Bottoms was well-known across the state and was the only Black woman candidate for governor at a time when Black women are the bedrock of Democratic support in Georgia.
She overcame six candidates including former state Sen. Jason Esteves, former state labor commissioner and DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond and Republican-turned-Democrat Geoff Duncan, a former lieutenant governor. Although Esteves outraised Bottoms, Thurmond had much more experience and Duncan argued he could win over moderates and even Republicans, none ever managed to draw close.
No former Atlanta mayor has ever won the governor’s office in Georgia, where politics has at times featured a strong strain of antipathy to its largest city. No Black person or woman has ever been elected governor, either. Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams tried to break those racial and gender barriers in 2018 and 2022, but fell short both times against Gov. Brian Kemp.
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