Standing on Shoulders of Steel: Keisha Lance Bottoms and the Weight of History
The morning after an election this big brings a mix of emotions that's hard to name.
Keisha Lance Bottoms just made history. She is the first Black woman elected governor anywhere in the United States, and she ended a Democratic drought in Georgia that's lasted nearly a quarter century. For Black communities, for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and for every coalition that knocked doors for this, the release is real. We earned this.
But my joy is sitting right next to a protective instinct. The rules in American politics have never been equal for us, and the scrutiny that follows a breakthrough is often as heavy as the fight it took to get there.
The Women Who Paved the Way
You can't talk about this victory without talking about Stacey Abrams.
In 2018 and 2022, Abrams carried the torch through hostile ground. She showed that Georgia's electorate was changing and proved a Black woman could build a multiracial, multigenerational coalition in the Deep South. Her work on voter registration, turnout and organizing opened the door.
On election night, Governor-Elect Bottoms tied her win to her own roots. She talked about visiting the grave of her great-great-grandmother, Betsy Peek, who was born 20 years before emancipation:
"I don't know what dreams Betsy Peek had for her children or for her grandchildren... But I know I am standing on shoulders made of steel."
Decades of unseen labor by Black women just turned into executive power.
The Scrutiny Is Coming
So let the cheers ring. But the hyper-scrutiny is coming, and it's coming fast.
When Black women step into executive power, they're rarely judged on policy alone. We saw it with Kamala Harris. We saw it with Bottoms herself as Mayor of Atlanta. Her tone, her hair, her laugh, how she carries herself under pressure. All of it gets turned into a weapon by people looking for a crack.
Expect her opponents to drag the 2020 unrest from her time as mayor back out to paint her as soft on public safety. If she speaks with authority, she's "aggressive." If she looks for common ground, she's "weak." And mistakes that would be forgiven for a white or male governor will be treated as proof she never belonged there.
Big Hopes, Real Limits
A lot of Black Georgians and progressive voters want a governor who openly champions Black communities, protects civil rights and takes on systemic inequity. I want that too. But like President Obama, Governor Bottoms will run into real structural limits.
Democrats swept the top statewide offices this year. Josh McLaurin won lieutenant governor, Penny Brown Reynolds won secretary of state, and Tonya Miller won attorney general. Still, a governor can't pass a platform by decree. She controls appointments, executive orders, state agencies and the veto. Everything else has to be negotiated with the legislature and fought out in the budget.
She has to deliver real wins on the economy and education for working-class Black families without letting opponents box her in as a governor for only one part of Georgia. People will want quick results on housing, transit and healthcare, so she'll need to use every executive tool she has while she works through the budget fights.
What This Means for Our LGBTQ+ Family
For our LGBTQ+ family in Georgia, especially here in metro Atlanta, this win feels like being able to exhale. We've had years of bills going after trans youth, bodily autonomy and diversity programs.
Bottoms has kept close ties with LGBTQ+ advocates, both as Mayor of Atlanta and as Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Biden. Her most immediate power is the veto pen. Anti-LGBTQ+ bills no longer have a clear road to becoming law.
With her in the Governor's Mansion, Georgia is saying it won't follow its neighbors in rolling back our rights. LGBTQ+ residents, families and businesses get a little room to breathe.
Playing by New Rules
I keep saying it: we are no longer in the same country Biden left us. The old etiquette of polite bipartisanship and playing by legacy rules is gone.
Bottoms beat an opponent who spent more than $200 million, which proves grassroots organizing can still beat big money. Governing will take a new playbook. Where the legislature stalls, she has to use appointments, agency rules and economic development grants to the fullest. She can't wait on legacy media to tell her story. She has to talk to the people directly and push back hard on bad-faith attacks.
And the rest of us have a job too. Democrats, progressive groups, labor and civil rights organizations need to build a wall around her and not let her get isolated when the commentators come for her background or her style.
The Road Ahead
This win was paid for by generations of sacrifice. Black women have carried the voting rights movement, the labor movement and the Democratic Party for decades. Watching Keisha Lance Bottoms break the highest glass ceiling in Georgia politics is something I'll never forget.
The road ahead will be hard, and the scrutiny will be fierce. But like she told us on election night, she's standing on shoulders made of steel. Now the work shifts from breaking the barrier to protecting the progress, and making sure this moment brings real safety, dignity and opportunity to every Georgian.
Sources: AJC · FOX 5 Atlanta · CBS News Atlanta · WSAV
George Daigle is the founder of AmpliPhy and co-host of Trax and Conversation with the Lioness.
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