How Keisha Lance Bottoms found out she was elected Georgia's governor

November 4, 2026 / 9:35 AM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google When Keisha Lance Bottoms takes over the Georgia governor's office in January, she'll be the first Black woman in the U.S. to ever hold the office. But you might've found out sooner than she did.Bottoms told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King she was trying to tune out the results and work on her speech when her husband had to physically draw her attention to the TV screen."I had put in my AirPods to work on my speech, and my husband was on the sofa near me, laying near me, and he kicked me," said Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta. "I went like, 'What?' He said, 'They called it.' And I said, 'Called what?' And so that's how I knew. Then my son Langston ran in the room and jumped on top of me almost."The race was called fairly quickly. Georgia incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff was projected to win the race not long after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET, one of the first in the country. CBS News projected Bottoms' race by 9:30 p.m. Georgia Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks during an election night watch party at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis on Nov. 3, 2026, in Atlanta. Megan Varner/Getty Images With 99% of the vote in Wednesday morning, Bottoms was beating Republican candidate Rick Jackson by about 360,000 votes."I thought that it was going to be a very long night. I knew that we had done the work, but Georgia has always — for the past few years — been a purple state, so I thought it could be much closer," she said.But now she will have to get to work on her agenda after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who has held the office since 2019, steps away. She said her first priorities are related to the cost of living and education. "My priority will be to address these cost-of-living issues that I've heard around the state," Bottoms said. "I want to allow local governments to suspend or end our grocery tax and also expanding Medicaid and fully funding pre-K in Georgia, and fully funding education will be a priority in that first budget."Not only will Bottoms become the first Black female governor in U.S. history, she'll be Georgia's first female governor and one of 17 women in governor's offices nationwide, a new record high."That is an amazing number to hear. I didn't realize that it was 17," Bottoms said. "There is such an incredible group of women governors right now. I've heard (Michigan) Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer say there have been more governors named John than women, so I don't know if that record still stands, but they are an incredibly strong group of leaders, and I'm grateful to now be counted in the number." In: Georgia Atlanta Election How Keisha Lance Bottoms found out she was elected governor of Georgia 04:56 How Keisha Lance Bottoms found out she was elected governor of Georgia (04:56)