ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — In a watershed moment that reshaped the South’s political landscape, Georgia voters on Tuesday elected a historic slate of Democratic constitutional officers, powered by a barrier-breaking contingent of Black women who won statewide executive office for the first time in state history.

Leading the historic ticket is former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who became the nation’s first Black female governor in history after defeating billionaire Republican Rick Jackson.

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Bottoms’ victory ends a 24-year Democratic drought in Georgia’s executive mansion and crowns an unprecedented statewide sweep where Black women claimed the state’s most powerful executive and administrative posts.

>> Full election results here

Joining Bottoms at the top of state government are:

• Penny Brown Reynolds (Secretary of State): The former Fulton County judge and Biden administration USDA official defeated Republican state Rep. Tim Fleming to become Georgia’s top elections official, making history as Georgia’s first female secretary of state and the first woman of color to hold the position.
• Tanya Miller (Attorney General): A former federal prosecutor, Fulton County homicide prosecutor, and current state representative, Miller defeated Republican state Sen. Brian Strickland to become the first Black female attorney general in Georgia history.
• Keisha Sean Waites (Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner): The former Atlanta city councilor and state representative pulled off a major upset against Republican incumbent John King, bringing disaster recovery and emergency management experience to the statewide regulator.
• Nikki Porcher (Labor Commissioner): A U.S. Air Force veteran, former educator, and community advocate, Porcher unseated Republican incumbent Bárbara Rivera Holmes, campaigning on a pledge to modernize Georgia’s unemployment and workforce development systems.
• Lydia Powell (State School Superintendent): Powell scored a crucial down-ballot victory, unseating longtime Republican incumbent Richard Woods to take leadership of Georgia’s public education system.
• Katherine Juhan-Arnold (Agriculture Commissioner): Juhan-Arnold defeated GOP incumbent Tyler Harper, winning oversight of Georgia’s $91.4 billion agribusiness sector and the nation’s oldest state department of agriculture.

Georgia also elected its first Democratic lieutenant governor in almost 20 years. Josh McLaurin, a Democratic state senator from Sandy Springs, defeated Republican Greg Dolezal, becoming the first Democrat elected lieutenant governor since Mark Taylor and preparing to preside over a Republican-majority state Senate.

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