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Former Atlanta Mayor and White House advisor Keisha Lance Bottoms has officially announced her run for Georgia governor in 2026, after weeks of speculation. Bottoms stated in an interview with FOX 5’s Angelique Proctor at the Georgia State Capitol that her background as Atlanta's mayor and her most recent position as a top adviser in the Biden administration have equipped her to govern the state.
“As mayor, I led Atlanta through difficult times, supported small businesses, raised pay for first responders, and expanded affordable housing … Georgia families deserve far better than what Donald Trump and Republicans are giving us right now—I will be a governor for all Georgians,” Bottoms said in her announcement.
Among her main priorities, she stated, will be extending Medicaid to the 300,000 Georgians who do not already have insurance, assisting small companies, and removing the income tax for educators. She also intends to alleviate Georgia's teacher shortage. Eliminating teacher state income taxes is also one of her main initiatives.
“I am a fighter. People are looking for somebody to fight against the chaos that's coming out of Washington,” she told Proctor. “The chaos is being created by the Donald Trump administration, and I am ready to lead, and I am ready to fight on behalf of the community across Georgia.
“We still have a teacher shortage in the state, and we know it’s impacting what’s happening in our classrooms,” Bottoms said.
Bottoms has worked in politics and law for a long time. She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Florida A&M University. She attended Georgia State University College of Law in 1994 to earn her Juris Doctor after graduating from Florida A&M. She practiced juvenile law prior to being appointed a magistrate judge in Atlanta in 2002.
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After winning a seat on the Atlanta City Council in 2009, Bottoms made her political debut. She was re-elected in 2013. Up until 2017, she was the executive director of Atlanta's Fulton County Recreation Authority. From 2018 to 2022, Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 until 2022. In 2022, she succeeded Cedric Richmond as head of the Office of Public Liaison.
The governor's race is anticipated to attract a lot of interest. Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, is not eligible to run again due to term limits. Last year, Republican Chris Carr, Georgia's attorney general, formally began his bid to succeed Kemp. State Senator Jason Esteves declared his intention to run in April on the Democratic side. In August 2024, Olu Brown, the former pastor of Impact United Methodist Church, made his campaign public. According to reports, Stacey Abrams, the Democratic contender for governor in 2018 and 2022, is thinking about running for office again.
In addition to her long political and legal resume, Bottoms can now add executive producer to that list. She serves as an executive producer on Tyler Perry’s new show She The People on Netflix. The political comedy stars Terri J. Vaughn as Lt. Gov. Antoinette Dunkerson, the first Black woman to hold the office, who “runs a successful campaign and now must figure out how to thrive under a sexist and condescending governor while attempting to keep her family in line now that they're all in the public eye.”
Bottoms feels the state is prepared for the historic moment if she is elected, becoming the first Black woman governor in Georgia's history.
