Bottoms Wins Georgia Governor's Race, Pledges Medicaid Expansion Push
Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Atlanta mayor, defeated Republican Rick Jackson to become Georgia's next governor, making her the state's first Democratic governor in over two decades and the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Medicaid expansion was a central plank of her campaign, which she framed as a way to fund more healthcare services and prevent further rural hospital closures in the state, one of ten that has not adopted full expansion. Bottoms ran a centrist campaign also focused on data center construction and grocery tax relief, overcoming heavy spending from Jackson, who was backed by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp and President Trump. The race was called by the Associated Press Tuesday night; Bottoms takes office as governor of a state where Republicans have controlled government since 2003.