Keisha Lance Bottoms wins the Georgia governor’s race, flipping the office for Democrats NBC News projects that Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, defeated billionaire Republican Rick Jackson in the contest to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia’s race for governor, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Rick Jackson and flipping control of the battleground state office for the first time in 24 years. Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta and a former Biden administration official, overcame an enormous spending disadvantage against Jackson, a wealthy healthcare executive who pumped more than $100 million of his own money into his campaign. Bottoms is the first woman and the first Black person to be elected governor of Georgia. She is also the first Black female governor in the country’s history.