Bottoms defeats Rick Jackson, turning Georgia governor’s office blue

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) is projected to win the Georgia governor’s race over Republican healthcare executive Rick Jackson — turning the Peach State’s highest office blue for the first time in more than two decades, according to Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) .

Bottoms led Jackson by about 11 points with 71 percent of the vote reported, according to DDHQ.

Bottoms, who served as a senior adviser to former President Biden, will become Georgia’s first Democratic governor since Roy Barnes left office in 2003 after one term. Before its recent run of GOP state leadership — which included term-limited outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp — Democrats filled the gubernatorial seat for more than a century.

Election handicappers Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball had each rated the race as a “toss-up” as recently as late October. Bottoms was also narrowly leading Jackson in a recent poll by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and University of Georgia.

The former Atlanta mayor got a boost when former President Obama joined her and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) for a rally in late October.

It’s a tough loss for Republicans and President Trump, who endorsed Jackson in July and called him a “true champion for the people” at a rally in Cobb County. But the endorsement came after the president previously backed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), who lost to Jackson in a primary runoff.