KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS ELECTED FIRST BLACK WOMAN GOVERNOR IN US

Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat and former mayor of Atlanta, has been elected governor of Georgia, according to US media projections. She becomes the first Black woman elected governor of any US state, and also the first woman to hold the office in Georgia. Bottoms defeated Rick Jackson, a Republican businessman and billionaire healthcare executive, in Tuesday's election. CNN and NBC News both called the race in her favour. She succeeds Brian Kemp, the Republican governor who was term-limited after two consecutive terms in office.

Official results cited by broadcasters put Bottoms on 1,951,283 votes, or 54.48% of the total, against 1,630,052 votes, or 45.52%, for Jackson. Bottoms previously served as a senior adviser to former President Joe Biden and as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. She is the daughter of Major Lance, known for his career in Northern Soul music. The result delivers Democrats a victory in one of the United States' most closely divided political battlegrounds.

The outcome formed part of a wider set of results declared the same night. In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds was projected to become the state's first Black governor, defeating David Jolly, a former Republican who switched to the Democratic Party, by 1.3 percentage points with 98% of votes counted. In the US Virgin Islands, Stacey Plaskett was elected governor, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a US jurisdiction. Republicans had held Georgia's governorship for more than two decades, with Black voters forming a core part of the Democratic coalition that turned the state into a national battleground. Bottoms is due to take office once Kemp's term ends.