Amy Acton, Keisha Lance Bottoms proved billionaires can be beaten | Opinion

• Keisha Lance Bottoms and Dr. Amy Acton were elected as the first female governors of Georgia and Ohio, respectively.

Judson L. Jeffries is professor of African American and African studies at Ohio State University and a regular contributor to The Columbus Dispatch

It was a historic night for women.

Keisha Lance Bottoms and Dr. Amy Acton made history last night when voters in Georgia and Ohio voted them into the governor’s mansion, thereby making them the first women elected governors in the history of their respective states.

Lance Bottoms’ history making achievement is layered.

Not only is she the first woman elected governor in Georgia’s history, but she will also be the first African American chief executive to occupy the governor’s mansion; only the third African American elected governor of a southern state (if you count Maryland); and the nation’s first ever elected African American woman governor. 

From the very beginning of the campaign season political junkies and talking heads kept a close eye on the races for governor in both Georgia and Ohio.

Both were open seat contests and figured to be highly competitive. Of the two many believed Georgia’s race held the most intrigue for obvious reasons.

No African American woman had ever been elected to a notable statewide office in Georgia unless one counts the state’s public service commission to which Alicia M. Johnson was elected last year. What’s more, the last Democrat Georgians sent to the governor’s mansion was Roy Barnes nearly thirty years ago.

Lance Bottoms made a good show of herself winning her primary that included a crowded field of competitors while her opponent, Robert Jackson, a healthcare CEO, emerged victorious in a Republican primary runoff that was hotly contested for much of the contest. By contrast, Acton encountered no such opposition.

Neither Lance Bottoms nor Acton possessed a long career in politics.

Lance Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta for four years before making what some believed to be a most curious move to leave that post and sign on as a senior advisor to President Joe Biden. As mayor of one of the country’s most cosmopolitan cities Lance Bottoms did not lack name recognition.

Neither did Acton.

A political novice, Acton, was thrusted into the living rooms of Ohioans during the pandemic in her role as director of the state’s Department of Health as she provided daily updates alongside the governor on the status of things related to COVID-19.

The fact that both Lance Bottoms and Acton squared off against billionaires makes their wins all the more impressive.

Naturally, both were easily outspent, but the candidate who raises or spends the most money doesn’t always win. Lance Bottoms’ opponent is reported to have poured a whopping $200 million into his campaign which is more than the campaigns of Acton, her opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, and Lance Bottom combined.

Jackson’s war chest did not give him the decided advantage he had hoped it would. Historically, the candidate who spends the most money usually emerges victorious. With the advent of new media that dynamic no longer holds true.

Despite Jackson’s unlimited resources President Donald Trump initially threw his support behind incumbent Republican Lt. Governor Burt Jones.

Former President Barack Obama endorsed both Lance Bottoms and the good doctor.

According to Lance Bottoms’ campaign website, she threw her hat in the ring for governor “to deliver for working families and bring steady leadership to Georgia in the midst of uncertainty and chaos coming from Washington.” To some extent Lance Bottoms’ road to victory was paved by the selfless and forward-thinking Stacey Abrams and her people who laid the groundwork (during her 2018 and 2022 campaigns for governor) for the election of two Democratic U.S. Senators (Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff) several years earlier, making them the first Democrats to occupy a senate seat in the state of Georgia since 2000.

As history buffs and political scientists bask in the glow of Acton’s and Lance Bottoms’ victories the following questions that cannot be ignored are: a) does this development represent a political realignment and b) how will Acton’s and Lance Bottoms’ elections impact the 2028 presidential election?

Only time will tell.

Judson L. Jeffries is professor of African American and African studies at Ohio State University and a regular contributor to The Columbus Dispatch