Keisha Lance Bottoms secures Democratic nomination for governor

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]She secured the Democratic nomination outright last night and now she hopes to win the seat that's eluded her party for more than two decades. And she hopes to become the first black woman elected governor in US history. Bottoms snagged a rare endorsement from former President Joe Biden after serving in his administration. Her message to the voter, she's battle tested. She talked about serving as mayor at a trying time leading through the COVID-19 pandemic, high crime, and civil unrest. Then came her surprise decision not to seek re-election in 2021. In a one-on-one with 11Alive News today, she talked about the potential challenges she faces looking ahead to November.

[00:00:42]The biggest challenge will will likely be resources, but I'm I'm not going to even put that on the table.

[00:00:49]Um I just say likely just because Republicans are putting in millions of dollars of their own fortune. But at the end of the day, the power still rests with the people, even with the millions of dollars that they put in personally on the other side trying to curry favor with Trump. We still outvoted them in this race.

[00:01:14]Uh Democrats did.

[00:01:16]So, I want to put the people up against the money any day of the week. She's talking about voter turnout there. In 2018, Democrat Stacey Abrams came within less than two points of winning the gubernatorial contest against Brian Kemp. It was just 50,000 votes between the two. A rematch four years later was a seven-point win for Kemp. There will be a lot of eyes on this race in November as both parties view Georgia as one of the biggest political battleground states in the country.