Keisha Lance Bottoms Makes History In Georgia & Hakeem Jeffries Moves Closer To House Speakership

Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s governorship Tuesday to become the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state.

Election night also brought Brooklyn’s Hakeem Jeffries closer to a historic House speakership.

Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson, securing a breakthrough that extended beyond Georgia. Bottoms will become the state’s first Black governor and first woman governor in American histoy when she takes office.

Her victory also ended more than two decades of Republican control of the governor’s office.

In Washington, another potential first came into view.

Democrats are projected to regain the House majority, positioning Hakeem Jeffries to become the first Black speaker in the chamber’s history. The Brooklyn congressman would succeed Republican Mike Johnson if he wins the required vote when the new Congress convenes in January.

Voters elect House members, who then choose the speaker.

That means the election results opened Jeffries’ path to the position, but did not formally give him the gavel. The House elects its speaker at the beginning of a new Congress.

Together, the developments placed Black political leadership at the center of an election with consequences for both state government and national power.

Bottoms’ victory followed a career that included service in Atlanta government and the Biden White House. She previously worked as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and directed the White House Office of Public Engagement.

She will succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who is leaving after two consecutive terms. 

Her campaign emphasized affordable health care, housing and education. Among her proposals were eliminating state income taxes for teachers and expanding access to job training, according to WSB-TV. Those priorities will accompany her into an office no Black woman has previously held in any U.S. state. 

Jeffries already holds a place in congressional history as the first Black person to lead a major party in Congress. Becoming speaker would carry that achievement into a position responsible for presiding over the House and helping direct its business.