Bottoms, 56, succeeds Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who served two terms and could not run again because of term limits. She takes office in January 2027. Her win ends more than two decades of Republican control of the governor's office; accounts differ on whether Georgia last had a Democratic governor in 1998 or 2003, depending on whether the count runs from an election or the end of a term. Sources also differ on whether she is Georgia's first Black governor or its first Black person elected governor. Only three Black governors have been elected in US history, all Democratic men, and she was one of eight Black major-party nominees for governor on this year's ballot.

Jackson, 72, is the founder of Jackson Healthcare, a healthcare staffing company, and was a first-time candidate. He entered the race as a relatively unknown figure and won the Republican nomination by beating Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a June runoff. Jones never publicly backed him afterward, even though Trump privately urged him to. Jackson's campaign centered on tax cuts, public safety, deregulation and his business record, and after the primary he moved to align himself with Kemp. Estimates of how much of his own money he spent range from more than $100 million to more than $200 million.

Jackson went after Bottoms' record as Atlanta's mayor. His ads used footage of the protests that followed the 2020 police killings of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and George Floyd in Minneapolis, and he criticized her tenure during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also faulted her for not seeking a second term, accusing her of abandoning the city. "Bad mayors don't make good governors," he said.

Bottoms ran mainly on affordability and the economy, along with healthcare and voting rights, rather than on the historic nature of her candidacy. Her proposals included expanding Medicaid to cover hundreds of thousands more people, raising the state minimum wage to $15 an hour, increasing pay for teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees, pausing new data center development, and repealing Georgia's ban on abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. She questioned Jackson's claim to understand ordinary Georgians' financial struggles, pointing to his company's government contracts and accusing him of trying to "buy this election."

She also tied Jackson to Trump. In their only general election debate, last month, she said he wanted to be Trump's favorite governor and linked him to Trump's efforts to sow doubt about the 2020 election results. Bottoms said voters needed to "make sure we are protected from the harmful policies of Donald Trump." Trump made two Georgia stops during the campaign, in Dalton and Perry. Sources differ on whether he endorsed Jackson or Jones during the primary, but he campaigned alongside Jackson in the Atlanta area in the closing weeks.

Bottoms was born and raised in Atlanta, the daughter of R&B singer Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson. She graduated from Frederick Douglass High School, Florida A&M University and Georgia State University's School of Law, and worked as an attorney and a magistrate judge. She served on the Atlanta City Council from 2009 to 2018, then as Atlanta's 60th mayor from January 2018 to January 2022 after defeating Mary Norwood in a runoff. According to her University of Chicago Institute of Politics biography, her administration produced four consecutive balanced budgets and left the city with reserves of nearly $181 million. After leaving office she became a senior adviser in the Biden White House, leading the Office of Public Engagement, and later advised Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.

Her win came the same night Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff was re-elected over Republican Rep. Mike Collins. Republicans have held both chambers of the General Assembly for more than two decades, and Bottoms may have to negotiate with at least one Republican-controlled chamber.