(SRN NEWS/REUTERS) – Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s race for governor on Tuesday, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a state and delivering Democrats a victory in one of the nation’s most closely divided political battlegrounds.
The former Atlanta mayor, who will also be the first female governor of the state, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson.
She succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is leaving office after serving two consecutive terms. Bottoms, 56, also previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.
Republicans had controlled the governor’s office for more than two decades.
Bottoms’ victory was just the tip of a “blue wave” in Georgia as Democrats for lieutenant governor and every other constitutional office in the state were also swept into office.
Democrats also won control of Congress. President Trump, in acknowledging that, warned he’ll veto any legislation he doesn’t like. He also declared that Republicans lost because he wasn’t on the ballot.
(Reporting by Kat Stafford; Additional reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Edmund Klamann)