Georgia made history on November 3. Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the next governor of our state. She is the first woman to lead Georgia, the first Black governor in its history, and the first Black woman ever elected governor in the United States.
Governor-elect Bottoms, congratulations. We remember your years as Mayor of Atlanta with real appreciation, including the remarks you gave at the 2018 HOPE Global Forums. Thank you for the time you gave to our city and for standing with a cause that believes financial dignity is where every family’s future begins. We are proud of you, and we wish you every success.
She is not alone. Georgia voters sent women to lead across state government. Tanya Miller was elected the state’s first woman attorney general. Penny Brown Reynolds was elected Georgia’s first Black woman secretary of state. Lydia Powell will serve as state school superintendent, Nikki Porcher as labor commissioner, Keisha Sean Waites as insurance commissioner, Katherine Juhan-Arnold as agriculture commissioner, and Shelia Edwards on the Public Service Commission. To each of you, congratulations. Georgia is stronger for your willingness to serve.
Georgia has been walking toward this moment for a long time. Ambassador Mayor Andrew Young ran for governor in 1990 and did not win the office, and he kept opening doors for others anyway. Governor-elect Bottoms now stands on the shoulders of a giant, and on the shoulders of every pioneer who made this day possible. We look forward to watching her lead Georgia into the future.
This is the state where Dr. King was born, and it is the home of Operation HOPE. Today I am proud of Georgia.
I congratulate every leader elected in Georgia and wish them every success. The job in front of them is not about one party or one night. It is about every Georgian trying to pay rent, keep a small business open, and build something to hand to their children. I am praying they succeed, because when Georgia’s leaders succeed, Georgia succeeds.
I also want to wish well every leader in this country, Democrat and Republican, who chooses to build bridges over burning them. Our politics rewards the loudest voice in the room. Our communities need the leaders who will sit down at a table with people who see things differently and come away with something that works. Those are the leaders I want to support, in either party, and there are more of them than the headlines suggest.
The measure of this moment will not be the celebration or the disappointment of one night. It will be whether families in Georgia are better off a year from now. Financial dignity, ownership, and a real chance for small businesses to grow: that is the work, and it belongs to all of us.
Congratulations, Governor-elect Bottoms and every woman elected statewide. Georgia is rooting for you, and so am I. And if you want to be part of the building, join us in Atlanta on December 2 and 3 for the HOPE Global Forums, where building together is the whole agenda.
