It’s not a closely guarded secret that Keisha Lance Bottoms is floating toward announcing a run for governor of Georgia. Local station WXIA said the former Atlanta mayor pretty much confirmed her intention to seek the office in the 2026 race, and all that’s left is a formal announcement.
But her race would also mark the third consecutive time a Black woman has gone up against a powerful Republican candidate. The first two, of course, were when Stacey Abrams attempted to become the first Black woman to serve as the state’s governor. In 2018, she lost an election so close that many still feel that then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp used his position to manipulate voter registrations, mainly of African Americans.
Her second try, however, was more decisive. Despite being responsible for the energy in Georgia that boosted Joe Biden to winning the state in the 2020 presidential election, in 2022, voters decided to stick with Kemp for another four years.
Now the term-limited Kemp is said to be mulling a U.S. Senate run to unseat current Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff. The frontrunner so far among Republicans is Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, along with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. In the Democratic primary, megachurch pastor Olu Brown has declared a run. Also, retired DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond’s name has been floated, though no decision from him has surfaced.
Every governor of Georgia since 1732, whether colonial, Democrat, Republican, or nonpartisan, has been a powerful white man, so it has become a wall that Black politicians in the state have yet to break through. State Rep. Vernon Jones ran as a Republican in 2022 but dropped out at the request of Donald Trump.
Abrams became the first major party Black woman to run, and despite her unsuccessful attempts, it opened the possibility for others. Rep. Lucy McBath, who chose to pause her exploratory bid due to her husband’s cancer diagnosis, would have been a strong contender. But the popularity of Lance Bottoms, who served as Atlanta mayor from 2018 to 2022, and the strength of Georgia’s Black electorate could finally crack that final barrier.
Given the current political climate in Georgia, breaking through is certainly a possibility, says Christine Slaughter, associate political science professor at Boston University.
“Black women in state and local politics in Georgia have long had political ambitions to reach heights and break through glass ceilings for other candidates, so it’s encouraging that Black women are continuing to seek higher office there,” said Slaughter. “But what it will take is a broad question, and none of us has a crystal ball.”
Slaughter, who is also an advisor to the African American Research Collaborative, said that learning from Abrams’ campaign, there is an appetite for having Black people in political power in the state, just as there is nationwide.
“The more black women that we see in office, the more America as a country will have to accept that Black women are a political force,” she explained. “It’s only in due course that if Black women continue to show out at this rate electorally, that can only be matched with representation of Black women in political office.
Notably, no Black woman has ever been elected as governor of a U.S. state. Jennette Bradley, a Republican, was the first Black woman elected lieutenant governor, in 2002, in Ohio. Jenean Hampton, a Republican, served as Kentucky’s lieutenant governor. Sheila Oliver, a Democrat, served in New Jersey. Virginia’s lieutenant governor is Jamaican-born Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running as a Republican for governor.
It would not be surprising to see Republicans in Georgia attempt to lean in on Black voters. However, their most recent attempts have only produced candidates who have been unpopular among them. Jones, who was once a Democrat but switched to the GOP, dropped out of the 2022 race so that the Trump-backed David Perdue could run against Kemp, then lost his subsequent U.S. House race. Also, former NFL star Herschel Walker lost decisively against Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“While the GOP continues to seek votes from Black Georgians, they have fallen short with candidates like Walker,” said Slaughter. “It was a very loud rejection from Black voters, so the alignment is not taking place at the pace they are thinking.”
As for Keisha Lance Bottoms, she may be just days from formally announcing her bid. She said in a statement sent to the media that she’s already let everyone know what she’s thinking, now it’s just a matter of pulling the trigger.
“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that there is a ‘fierce urgency of now,’” said Lance Bottoms. “For the people of Georgia, that includes having leaders who aren’t blindly following Trump off of a moral and economic cliff, but focused on the pressing needs in our communities. I have previously publicly shared that I was seriously considering a run for governor and expect to make a formal announcement soon.”
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