9 min read
Black governor candidates are on the ballot in eight states this fall.
The record field could change the face of American leadership in a single night.
Only three Black governors have been elected in 250 years of American history.
Voters will decide every one of these races on Tuesday, November 3.
Major Takeaways
- Eight Black nominees for governor is a record for one election cycle in America.
- Five of the nominees are Democrats and three are Republicans seeking a party first.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms could become the first Black woman elected governor in the nation.
- Black voters in Georgia have cast a third of the early ballots in a tied race.
Black Governor Candidates Break a Stubborn Barrier
Douglas Wilder became the first elected Black governor in Virginia in 1989.
Deval Patrick followed in Massachusetts in 2006, a gap of seventeen long years.
Wes Moore became the third in Maryland in 2022 and remains the only one in office.
David Paterson served as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010.
He rose to the office when his predecessor resigned and was never elected to it.
No Black woman has ever been elected governor of any state in this country.
No Black Republican has ever been elected governor either, in any state.
This year five Democrats and three Republicans carry a chance to rewrite both lines.
The races stretch from Georgia and Florida to Wisconsin, Nevada and Minnesota.
Some nominees hold favorable odds while others face steep climbs in their states.
Together they form the largest field of Black nominees for governor in one cycle.
Bottoms Runs at History in Georgia
Keisha Lance Bottoms, 56, served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022.
She would become the first Black governor and the first woman governor of Georgia.
A win would also make her the first Black woman elected governor in the nation.
Bottoms traces her family roots back more than five generations in Georgia.
"My people were once enslaved in this state," she said of the stakes.
"Just because it has not happened, that does not mean it is not going to happen real soon."
Stacey Abrams ran for the same office twice and fell short both times.
Her losses in 2018 and 2022 still hang over the race for many Georgia Democrats.
Democrats last elected a governor of Georgia in 1998, nearly three decades ago.
Bottoms faces businessman Rick Jackson, who is backed by outgoing Governor Brian Kemp.
Jackson has poured vast sums of his own fortune into advertising against her.
Advertising tracking data puts support for Jackson at $271.5 million across the cycle.
The same data puts advertising backing Bottoms at $32.8 million in that span.
Bottoms told volunteers this week that new money is arriving for the final push.
She said a $2.5 million gift will help fund turnout work in the last week.
A national governors group added $5 million more, bringing its total to about $16 million.
A University of Georgia poll taken October 7 to 15 found the race tied in effect.
It showed Jackson at 46 percent and Bottoms at 45 percent, with 8 percent undecided.
Jackson himself told supporters this week that the race is tied at best.
He warned that his side will lose if rural Georgia does not show up to vote.
Early voting runs through Friday, October 30 in counties across the state.
Urban City Podcast has tracked how Georgia early voting turns on Black voters in this final stretch.
State tracking data counted more than 1.78 million early ballots as of October 26.
Black voters cast 587,756 of those ballots, a full 33 percent of the total.
Turnout stood at 23.7 percent of the 7.53 million active voters in the state.
Bottoms is set to appear Wednesday night at a metro Atlanta rally with Barack Obama.
Kamala Harris will visit Georgia the next day to campaign at her side.
"I wake up as a Black woman every day," Bottoms said of her candidacy.
"It is no surprise to me that I am capable and I am qualified and I am able."
At a field office in Atlanta on Tuesday, volunteer Sue Ross put the moment plainly.
"It is definitely the time," Ross said while making calls for the campaign.
"This election is not just about Georgia. It is also about America."
Donalds Chases a First for Republicans in Florida
Byron Donalds carries the strongest odds of the three Republican nominees this year.
Florida has favored Republicans in recent cycles, and Donalds holds the party nomination.
A win would make him the first Black governor of Florida in state history.
It would also make him the first Black Republican ever elected governor in America.
Donalds has argued that Black voters should judge elections on policy and results.
He said more Black voters will find policies that improve their lives in his party.
After his primary win, he announced backing from a coalition of Black leaders in Florida.
The list included Gainesville City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, herself a Democrat.
Chestnut had criticized her own party for fielding an all white ticket in the state.
His path has not been smooth inside his own coalition, even with a presidential endorsement.
Fifteen of the sixteen counties he lost in the August primary sit in the Florida Panhandle.
In some of those counties he finished third despite carrying that endorsement.
His Democratic rival David Jolly says he hopes skin color informs no vote either way.
Jolly also argues that Donalds is out of step with Black communities on key issues.
He points to education and criminal justice as areas where their records diverge sharply.
In September, Donalds faced a skeptical audience at Florida A and M University in Tallahassee.
Students pressed him on immigration, gun rights, voting rights and school vouchers for hours.
His answers drew groans and boos at times, and he stayed through a fire alarm.
Student Myia Tucker said two things could be true at once about his candidacy.
A Donalds win would be progress, she said, while policy concerns would remain real.
Her classmate Desmond Whitfield stated his view in sharper and more personal terms.
He said a shared look does not settle whether a leader shares community values.
The Wider Field From Nevada to Minnesota
In Nevada, Attorney General Aaron Ford could make western history of his own.
Ford was the first Black person elected to statewide office in Nevada in 2019.
Harris told culinary workers last week that electing him would make history out west.
He would be the first Black governor of any state west of the Mississippi River.
Ford faces incumbent Governor Joe Lombardo in a race polls show within reach.
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley seeks the governor office as a Democrat.
Harris campaigned with Crowley on Monday and brushed aside a familiar question frame.
Asked about women issues, she answered that she was glad to talk about the economy.
In South Carolina, state lawmaker Jermaine Johnson carries the Democratic banner against steep odds.
In Michigan, Representative John James runs as the Republican nominee in a competitive contest.
In Minnesota, Lisa Demuth runs as the Republican nominee after leading her party in the state House.
Demuth and Bottoms are the two women in the field of eight nominees.
Either one could become the first Black woman elected governor in American history.
And in Maryland, Governor Wes Moore seeks a second term as the field elder statesman.
"We do have a unique moment here," Moore said of the record field.
He said his historic status is not an applause line but a broader challenge.
Moore noted that he remains only the third elected Black governor in 250 years.
He called that fact a bit indicting for a country now 250 years old.
Why This Matters Beyond the History Books
Governors control state budgets worth billions of dollars in public money each year.
They shape policy on housing, health care, education and jobs in direct ways.
They sign or block laws on voting access and on criminal justice reform.
Ford said some issues in Black communities get ignored and lack a voice in power.
He named voting rights, civil rights and the economy as concerns needing attention.
Political strategist Karen Finney framed the stakes in terms of raw governing power.
She said these leaders hold the power to shape lives and to shape the agenda.
Stacey Abrams described how rarely Black women have held executive office at all.
She said the absence of that proof point becomes a self reinforcing philosophy over time.
The fight over who votes freely runs alongside these races across the South.
Students who marched miles after campus polling sites were pulled show what access now costs.
A court fight over the last Black district in Louisiana shows what representation still risks.
Governors cannot settle those fights alone, but they can set the tone and the budget.
Turnout Will Decide Whether History Arrives
Bottoms voiced both worry and hope as she spoke with voters across Georgia.
She said she has never felt this level of anxiety and sadness in those talks.
Alongside it, she said, sits hope and optimism that the state can turn a corner.
Her closing message to supporters was a warning against easing off too soon.
"Tell people it is not over until it is over," she told her volunteers.
She warned against a record turnout being overtaken at the end on Election Day.
That warning applies far beyond Georgia in this final week of the campaign.
Eight names on eight ballots carry a question this country has rarely answered yes.
On November 3, voters in those states will give the answer in full.
Follow continuing election coverage at Urban City Podcast through Election Day and beyond.
