By Laura Nwogu
(Source: The Atlanta Voice)
In the hour before polls closed on election day in Georgia, the international ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta was decked out in red, white, and blue balloons and signs campaigning for Keisha Lance Bottoms for the next Governor of Georgia. In the hours that followed, the election results showed that the former Atlanta mayor had won the Democratic governor’s primary.
When Bottoms took the stage in a bright yellow suit with her family standing behind her and an audience of supporters in front of her, it was clear that gratitude overwhelmed her.
“I am humbled to be your Democratic nominee for governor,” Bottoms said. “I am reminded that the grace of God is sufficient… It is that faith that has led me to offer myself as a candidate for governor of this great state. I am a fighter, and I could not rest knowing that people across this state needed someone to stand in the gap and fight on their behalf. Georgians sent a clear message tonight that they want a fighter, someone who will stand up to Donald Trump and all of the chaos that’s raising costs, that’s hurting our economy, that threatens the rights that generations before us fought for and died for.
“As a great urban poet once said, ‘I ain’t never scared.’”
Georgia saw record-breaking early voting numbers ahead of the Tuesday primary election. According to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, over 1 million Georgians turned out for early voting. When the polls closed at 7 p.m and results started trickling in, Bottoms led the polls for the Democratic nominee. Her rivals included six other gubernatorial candidates, many with names familiar to Georgians, including former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, former Georgia State Sen. Jason Esteves, and former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond. State Rep. Derrick Jackson, former pastor Olu Brown, and Amanda Duffy rounded out the Democratic candidates.
Bottoms ran a campaign centered on voting rights protection, affordable housing initiatives, and lowering the cost of living for working families.
Fulton County resident and Navy veteran Tomorra Wiley said she has been campaigning for Bottoms for nearly a year.
“I’ve been on the campaign since July of last year. I believe in her dreams and goals. Actually, she’s one of the people who motivated me to get clean, and now I am seven years clean,” Wiley shared. “I think it says that Georgia is ready for a change. We’re ready for a new balance. The time has come. I think we’re turning into a blue state. I think, in some ways, we’re a purple state. I think that Georgia is becoming, with Atlanta, a more inclusive state, and I think that the rural areas of Georgia need just as much advocacy as Atlanta. That’s one thing that’s going to pull us through, and if we work together as a state, we’ll make it a great state.”
Republican candidates Burt Jones and Rick Jackson have advanced to a runoff. If Bottoms wins the governorship against one of them in November, Democrats will reclaim the governor’s office for the first time in more than two decades. She will also become the first Black female governor in U.S. history.
“Georgia, the power is in our hands. Go let them know,” Bottoms said in her final remarks to the audience as T.I.’s “Let ‘Em Know” blared over the ballroom speakers.
