For the first time in U.S. history, multiple elected Black governors will serve at the same time after five wins in elections across the country.
They are Democrat Wes Moore, who won re-election in Maryland, Republican Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Democrat David Crowley in Wisconsin and Democrat Aaron Ford in Nevada.
Before those wins, the only elected Black governors in U.S. history had been Moore; Deval Patrick, a Democrat who was elected Massachusetts’ governor in 2006; and Doug Wilder, a Democrat who was elected Virginia’s governor in 1989. None served simultaneously.
Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, overcame an enormous spending disadvantage to defeat Republican Rick Jackson, a wealthy healthcare executive who pumped more than $100 million of his own money into his campaign. She is the first woman and the first Black person to be elected governor of Georgia, and will be the first Black female governor in U.S. history.
In an interview with NBC News last month, Donalds said the history-making aspect of his candidacy was “very special.”
“From a larger perspective, there’s so much that has been talked about in politics over the last couple decades around race. Obviously, the country has had some real negative parts of our history surrounding race,” he said. “I’m humbled to be in this position, but I think it says a lot more about the state [of Florida] than it does about me.”
Others fell short in their races.
In South Carolina, another Black Democrat, state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, lost his state’s race for governor to Republican Alan Wilson.
On the Republican side, Rep. John James lost his governor’s race to Democrat Jocelyn Benson, and Minnesota state House Speaker Lisa Demuth lost the state’s gubernatorial contest to Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
