About 9 in 10 Black men in Georgia voted for Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democrat who on November 3, became the first Black woman elected governor in the United States, according to The AP Voter Poll. In 2024, only about three-quarters of the state’s Black men supported Kamala Harris.

Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson with about 54% of the vote to his 46%. She succeeds term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, and her win flips a governor’s office Republicans had held for more than two decades.

A Swing Among Black Men

The AP’s survey found Black women backed Bottoms at about the same rate they backed Harris, roughly 9 in 10. That makes Black men the group that moved. “Black voters, particularly Black men, were another group where Trump’s 2024 gains didn’t stick,” the AP wrote.

The Georgia shift matched the national trend. Only about 1 in 10 Black men nationally backed the Republican in their U.S. House race, according to AP VoteCast. That’s down from about one-quarter who backed Donald Trump in 2024. About 9 in 10 Black voters overall supported the Democratic House candidate, up from about 8 in 10 who voted for Harris.

Florida showed the limits of that trend. Byron Donalds, elected Florida’s first Black governor, won about one-quarter of Black men in his race against Democrat David Jolly, according to the poll. He won about 1 in 10 Black women.

Jackson, a billionaire who founded Jackson Healthcare, reportedly spent more than $200 million of his own money on the race. Trump endorsed him after he beat Trump’s preferred candidate in the Republican primary.

The swing showed up on the map too. In Houston County, which Kemp carried 58% to 40% in 2022, Bottoms won narrowly, 50% to 49%.

For now, the numbers suggest the Republican gains with Black men in 2024 did not carry over to 2026, at least in Georgia. Whether Bottoms can keep that coalition together once she governs is the next test.

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