Four Black candidates won gubernatorial races in the 2026 elections, including Keisha Lance Bottoms, who will become the first Black woman elected governor in the United States. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also won reelection, setting up five Black governors to serve at the same time.
Bottoms, a Democrat and former Atlanta mayor, won in Georgia. She will also be the state’s first woman governor. Her victory adds to a record-high 17 women who will hold governor’s offices nationwide, according to the CBS Atlanta report.
In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds won the governor’s race. He is set to become the state’s first Black governor and the first Black Republican elected governor in the country. Democrat David Crowley defeated Republican Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin, while Democrat Aaron Ford won Nevada’s race against Gov. Joe Lombardo, according to the Associated Press.
Moore welcomes historic results
Moore, who became Maryland’s first Black governor after his 2022 election, said the victories were “incredibly important” and called them a historic moment. He told CBS News that he had not wanted to remain the country’s only Black governor for long.
Before the election, three Black Americans had been elected governor, including Moore. David Paterson also served as New York governor after Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008, but took office through succession rather than election.
Bottoms said she learned her race had been called while working on her victory speech. Her husband, who was beside her, told her the result had been declared.
Reid Bentley