💢 Will American political history turn a new page today?
🖌 Asma Khalil - one of the presenters of the Global Story podcast.
In American history, no black woman has ever been elected governor of any state. Democratic candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms will make history if she wins the Georgia state election today.
Atlanta's former Democratic mayor is in a tight race with Republican candidate Rick Jackson; Jackson is a billionaire, businessman and healthcare executive.
Georgia hasn't had a Democratic governor in more than 20 years. This is the third time in a row that the Democrats have chosen a black woman as their candidate for governor.
Stacey Abrams lost the 2018 and 2022 elections to Brian Kemp, the current Republican governor of Georgia.
Mr. Kemp ends his last term as governor this year and still enjoys significant popularity. Signs of the difficulty Mrs Bottom is facing can be seen among some voters who split their votes; That means they vote for John Assaf, the Democratic nominee for Senate, but support Rick Jackson for governor, or they vote for Assaf and leave the governor's section blank.
During his time as mayor of Atlanta, Bottoms faced severe criticism and scrutiny for issues related to public safety and crime during the coronavirus restrictions. The issue became so controversial that some residents of Atlanta's wealthy Buckhead neighborhood tried to separate the area from the city.