COLUMBUS, Ga. - Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia's governor's race Tuesday, Nov. 3, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of the state and the first Democrat to win the office since 1998. The former Atlanta mayor defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson with about 54% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Georgia Secretary of State. The Associated Press and other news organizations called the race for Bottoms shortly after 9:15 p.m. Eastern, although the results remain unofficial until certified.

Bottoms received 2,251,699 votes, or 54.32%, compared with Jackson's 1,893,587 votes, or 45.68%, according to the state's unofficial results feed at about 11:44 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The totals represented 4,145,286 votes counted in the governor's race, with all 159 Georgia counties reporting. Bottoms held a lead of 358,112 votes, a margin of about 8.6 percentage points.

How Muscogee County voted

Muscogee County voters favored Bottoms by a wide margin. The county's unofficial results, posted at about 11:40 p.m. Eastern, showed Bottoms with 41,439 votes, or 66.6%, to Jackson's 20,763 votes, or 33.4%. That was 62,202 votes in the governor's race, with all 25 Muscogee precincts reporting at least some votes.

Bottoms' share in Muscogee was about 12 percentage points higher than her share statewide. The county's totals are unofficial and can still change as the remaining ballots are counted and the results are audited and certified. The Columbus Times election results page shows the full Muscogee and statewide numbers for every race on the ballot.

Georgia elects its first Black woman governor

Bottoms' election marks two milestones in Georgia's political history. She becomes the first Black woman elected governor of Georgia and the first Democrat to win the state's governorship since 1998. Her win changes the party holding the governor's office after years of Republican control.

Bottoms previously served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022. Her campaign for governor placed her against Jackson, a Republican businessman who emerged from his party's nomination contest earlier in the year. The two candidates competed to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who could not seek a third consecutive term under Georgia law.

Jackson won the Republican nomination in June

Jackson entered the general election after winning Georgia's Republican gubernatorial nomination in a June 16 runoff. He defeated Burt Jones in that contest to become the party's nominee for governor. The November election placed Jackson against Bottoms in the race to replace Kemp.

Pre-election polling had indicated a competitive race between the two candidates. One polling average cited by MultiState showed Jackson ahead by about 1.2 percentage points before the election. A polling average measures opinion before an election, while the vote count reflects ballots actually cast, so the two can differ.

Democrats also lead the lieutenant governor's race

Georgia's lieutenant governor's race also showed a Democratic lead in the unofficial state results Tuesday night. Democrat Josh McLaurin had received 2,310,238 votes compared with 1,818,461 for Republican Greg Dolezal. In Muscogee County, McLaurin had 42,034 votes to Dolezal's 19,873.

Those figures came from the same Georgia Secretary of State results feed as the governor's race. The reported leads remain subject to final certification. The lieutenant governor's race is a separate contest from the governor's race.

What happens next

Bottoms is expected to take office in January 2027, following the end of Kemp's administration. Georgia's results remain unofficial until counties and the state complete their certification process. The vote totals in this report were read from the Secretary of State's results site late Tuesday and may differ from later counts.

The Associated Press and other news organizations projected Bottoms as Georgia's next governor, according to reports from CBS Atlanta, NBC News and PBS NewsHour. MultiState reported Bottoms at about 54.3% with a margin of about 8.6 points, in line with the state's feed. No specific policy effects for Columbus have been established by the election results reported Tuesday night.