Eight Black Women Won Statewide Races in Georgia. Their Victories Stand to Reshape the State.

{snip}

Her win was part of a Democratic sweep of statewide offices on election night, with Democrats taking all 10 statewide races — meaning that all eight Black women running statewide in Georgia saw wins last night, too.

“Georgia chose competence,” Brown Reynolds said. “We were not selected because we were Black women. I believe that we were selected because all of us bring something that Georgia desperately needs. I know I’m not a politician and we know that this was no ordinary time. What this says is that a Black woman can lead by being her authentic self. It says there is a turning, if you will, in America — that in the state of Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis, that maybe, just maybe, we’re finally being judged by the content of our character and the experience and leadership that we bring.”

{snip} Multiple Black women made history, notably former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who will be the first Black woman governor in U.S. history.

In addition to Bottoms and Brown Reynolds, the six other Black women who ran for statewide office in Georgia and won are Tanya Miller, who will be attorney general; Katherine Juhan-Arnold, who will be agriculture commissioner; Keisha Waites, who will be insurance commissioner; Nikki Porcher, who will be labor commissioner; Sheila Edwards, who will be public service commissioner; and Lydia Powell, who will be state school superintendent.

{snip}

As state Rep. Saira Draper, who won her campaign for state Senate, posted on the social media platform X last night: “Georgia just elected more statewide officials named Keisha than Republicans.”

{snip}

Mackler also emphasized that one of the most important lessons to be learned from Georgia “is that women and women of color are at the center of driving the most important progress in our nation and are at the center of delivering the most important electoral wins in our nation.”

{snip}