Keisha Lance Bottoms: First Black woman elected governor in Georgia in U.S. history

Ms Bottoms emerged the winner of the Georgia governorship election with a 54.3 per cent vote becoming the first Black woman in U.S. history.

ADEFEMOLA AKINTADE • November 5, 2026

Keisha Bottoms [Photo Credit: Patch]

Former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Bottoms, 56, emerged the winner of the Georgia governorship election with a 54.3 per cent vote becoming the first Black woman to ever hold the position in U.S. history.

Georgia has long been a Republican stronghold and her triumph as a Democratic candidate signalled voters’ dissatisfaction with Mr Trump’s administration.

Ms Bottoms was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 18, 1970 to R&B artiste Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson. She is a descendant of Shepherd Peek, a man sold into slavery in 1826 in Crawfordsville, Georgia. She is Mr Peek’s great-great-granddaughter.

She obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida A&M University, making her a graduate of a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

She then obtained her Juris Doctor from Georgia State University College of Law, where she met her husband Derek Bottoms.

The duo got married in October 1994 and they have four adopted children, three boys and one girl named; Lance, 24, Langston, 18, and twins Lincoln and Lennox, 16.

Ms Bottoms’ father was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession and sale of narcotics, a development that subsequently led her mother to divorce him. He served only three years in prison.

After completing law school, Ms Bottoms served as a prosecutor in juvenile court where she represented children.

She became a magistrate judge in 2002 and was subsequently elected a judge at Fulton County Superior Court in 2008.

Between 2010 and 2018, she served as a city councilwoman for Atlanta’s 11th district.

Simultaneously, she was also the executive director of Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority between 2015 and 2017.

Ms Bottoms later emerged as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, becoming the only person to have served the city in all three arms of government: legislature, executive and judiciary.

She was the mayor of Atlanta between 2018 and 2022 during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Ms Bottoms, who also served under ex-President Joe Biden’s administration as senior adviser, will succeed Republican Governor Brian Kemp.

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