Eight Black women won statewide office in Georgia in the 3 November midterm elections, a result reported on Friday that reshapes the leadership of one of America's most closely divided states. The group was led by Keisha Lance Bottoms, who won the race for governor and becomes the first Black woman elected governor of a US state, USA Today reported.

Bottoms, a Democrat and former mayor of Atlanta, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson. She is also Georgia's first woman governor, and the first Democrat to win the governor's office in the state since 1998, according to The Current GA. She succeeds Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who could not seek a third consecutive term under Georgia law.

Eight wins across statewide offices

Alongside Bottoms, seven other Black women won statewide posts: Penny Brown Reynolds as secretary of state, Tanya Miller as attorney general, Lydia Powell as state schools superintendent, Katherine Juhan-Arnold as agriculture commissioner, Keisha Sean Waites as insurance commissioner, Nikki Porcher as labour commissioner and Sheila Edwards as a state public service commissioner. All eight are Democrats, and all replaced Republican white men, USA Today reported.

As a result, 10 of Georgia's 15 top statewide elected officials will soon be Black. More than 4.1 million ballots were cast in the state in the midterm election, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's office.

Part of a wider Democratic night

The Georgia results came in a midterm election in which Democrats also won control of both chambers of the US Congress. Bottoms won about 54.3 per cent of the vote, according to USA Today, although results remain unofficial until certified by state election officials. Her victory follows two unsuccessful campaigns for the same office by fellow Democrat Stacey Abrams in 2018 and 2022.

Sources: USA Today; The Current GA.