Georgia’s Future is in Our Hands
As national politics becomes exponentially more polarized, so do the two major parties’ competing visions for the country.
“This is the most important election in our lifetime.” How many times do you think you have heard that phrase? I would put the total somewhere in the high dozens to the low hundreds, with many of those instances coming in the last six years alone. As national politics becomes exponentially more polarized, so do the two major parties’ competing visions for the country.
While that phrase may seem hyperbolic, it grows truer with each passing year, and 2026 is no exception, especially here. When voters go to the polls next month, they will choose who leads our state for at least the next four years, and most likely the next eight. Since Georgia voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing governors to serve two consecutive terms in 1976, only one sitting governor has failed to be re-elected.
In other words, this is the most important election of our lifetime. On the ballot are two options – Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson. At this point, Jackson’s staggering greed, moral failings and rank incompetence are well documented, so I see no reason to spend more time outlining them here. Instead, I want to make it clear why I am supporting Bottoms with more hope, enthusiasm and joy than any nominee for our governor in my lifetime.
I first met Bottoms in 2009 when she was running for Atlanta City Council, and I immediately recognized how much she had to offer as a public servant. As a lifelong Georgian, HBCU graduate, Georgia State University College of Law graduate and former part-time magistrate judge, she entered office with an immediate grasp of the issues and personal insights regarding education, juvenile justice, economic development and more.
In her eight years on City Council, she fought for her constituents and cosponsored groundbreaking legislation that addressed the city’s $1.5 billion unfunded pension liability and helped grow the city’s reserves from $7.4 million to over $170 million. As the 60th mayor of Atlanta, she helped build or preserve more than 7,000 affordable homes, helped bring the region’s unemployment rate to 3.2%, and offered city police officers and firefighters the largest pay raise in recent history.
As mayor she faced one of the greatest combined challenges in Atlanta history – the dual crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and public fury in the form of the Black Lives Matter movement. I won’t pretend that she responded to those unprecedented forces perfectly because there is not a single leader at any level in this country who can claim to have done so.
That being said, she rose to the challenge with both strength and compassion. She was precisely the steady hand of leadership we needed at the time, striking a nearly impossible balance between public safety, public health and public interest. I can think of no other time in modern Atlanta history that demanded so much of a single mayor, which is why I cannot imagine anyone chastising her for stepping away after one term.
In just four years, she built Atlanta up and protected it from forces that threatened to tear it down. Much of our success in the last five years can be traced back to her time in office, including perhaps most visibly the recent success of the World Cup games in Atlanta.
She has spent the better part of the last two decades developing the skills, relationships and knowledge needed to run the state of Georgia.
While her opponent was busy fighting to keep struggling Georgians off health insurance to protect his own profit, Bottoms was bringing billions of dollars, thousands of jobs and new opportunities to the state.
While Jackson ransacked the state’s coffers to the tune of 1 billion taxpayer dollars, Bottoms fought to protect her constituents and get people the care they needed more than ever.
Georgia needs experienced leadership that comes from a place of selflessness, not self-enrichment. While Jackson has focused on getting rich off taxpayers, Bottoms has proven time and again that her priority is the people. She will walk into the governor’s mansion on day one ready to do her job because she has done the job.
She has committed herself to stabilizing our rural hospitals, educating all our children, growing our economy and keeping our state safe from those who threaten it, including the current federal government.
A vote for Keisha Lance Bottoms is a vote for progress – and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to finally start moving forward.
Tharon Johnson is an adviser for Keisha Lance Bottoms’ campaign.
