Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee and former mayor of Atlanta, has won Georgia's 2026 race for governor, according to a projection from the NBC News Decision Desk. The contest was called with 97.7 percent of the expected vote counted, NBC News reported early Wednesday.
Bottoms held 54.2 percent of the vote to 45.8 percent for Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire businessman. Roughly 4.17 million ballots were tallied at the time of the projection, with an estimated 99,000 votes still outstanding.
The seat is open because Republican Gov. Brian Kemp could not seek another term under the state's term limits.
Why it matters
Georgia has become one of the country's most closely watched electoral battlegrounds, and the governor's office carries influence over how the state runs its elections, sets its social policy and courts new business. NBC News also reported that its projection showed Democrats holding control of the U.S. Senate and the House.
The network's results page noted that the governor's race shifted about 10.67 points toward Democrats compared with the 2024 presidential contest, a county-by-county comparison NBC News uses to measure movement between elections.
A former mayor against a first-time statewide candidate
Bottoms led Atlanta City Hall before joining the administration of former President Joe Biden as an adviser. She won her primary with backing from Biden and Sen. Raphael Warnock, according to NBC News.
Jackson, her Republican opponent, had pledged his support to President Donald Trump. He entered the race without prior statewide office, running as a wealthy outsider against a candidate with a long record in city government.
The county-level numbers NBC News published illustrate how unevenly the state divided. Jackson ran far ahead in some smaller, heavily Republican counties — taking 84.3 percent in Bacon County and 77.8 percent in Appling County — while Bottoms carried others, including a 41.8 percent share for Jackson in Baker County. Those figures reflect partial returns, with most counties reporting at roughly 95 percent of their expected vote.
How the count was assembled
NBC News based its county and statewide totals on data supplied by The Associated Press, with race projections made by the network's own Decision Desk. The expected-vote figure is an estimate built from early-ballot counts and information that county election officials give to the network's vote reporters on Election Day, and it can be revised as more data arrives.
The network also noted that it displays results by type of ballot — Election Day, early in-person and mail — when states and counties make that breakdown widely available.
What to watch
Remaining ballots, including the estimated 99,000 outstanding at the time of the call, will continue to be added to the totals, and the final certified count will follow the state's canvass and certification process.
