Black women won seats at Georgia’s political table. But what’s on the menu?
It probably wasn’t the smartest decision to watch the Oscar winning film “One Battle After Another” a few days after the 2026 midterm elections.
My spirit was soaring at witnessing eight Black women win statewide races in Georgia, but the movie, a dark comedy-action thriller brimming with xenophobia, white supremacy, state terrorism and a small group of Black women who sacrifice themselves for the greater good, was sobering.
By the time the credits were rolling, my election night euphoria had evaporated. An avalanche of historic firsts in the midterm elections led to the most diverse group of elected officials in U.S. history. It is a cause for celebration and optimism, but I couldn’t fight a growing sense of unease.
On postelection Sunday, from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Sen. Raphael Warnock affirmed what I was feeling.
“The one who poses as king in a gold-encrusted house is now a lame duck,” Warnock said. “Donald Trump is a lame duck president and an old lion who will probably feel cornered. I want you to pray, because that is a dangerous situation.”
Already, Trump, who had previously accepted the results of the midterm elections, reversed course on Monday, questioning the legitimacy of the outcome.
Different election. Same chicanery.
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt compelled to pray for a politician, but I’m heeding Warnock’s exhortation, especially for Georgia’s new leaders.
Keisha Lance Bottoms is the first Black woman governor in Georgia and the U.S.
Penny Brown Reynolds is the first Black woman elected as secretary of state in Georgia.
Lydia Powell is the first Black woman school superintendent.
Tanya Miller is the first Black woman attorney general.
Katherine Juhan-Arnold is the first Black woman agriculture commissioner.
Keisha Waites is the first Black woman insurance commissioner.
Nikki Porcher is the first Black woman labor commissioner.
And Sheila Edwards is the second Black woman elected to Georgia’s Public Service Commission.
Georgia is the only state in the country with a Black woman majority in executive leadership. Collectively, these women have pledged to address affordability, expand healthcare access, protect fair elections, bring economic growth, improve education outcomes, lower utility bills, pause data center construction, review immigration policies and more, which according to a growing number of voter exit polls, are exactly the issues Georgia voters want our elected officials to address.
None of the women centered their identity as Black women during the campaign, proving they can win based on their qualifications rather than quotas, but this is still America, and we can be sure identity will be used to judge their performance.
They will be expected to promote a brand of leadership that is the opposite of Donald Trump by modeling collaboration, moderation, kindness, morality and basic human decency. They will be expected to govern with a conciliatory spirit because no matter how many times they rise above, no matter how closely they walk the line, the cornered lion and his state level coalition will try to label these Black women’s efforts to undo the wrongs of the current administration as vengeful, improper or biased.
The reality is quite different. In the 2020 book “Hometown Inequality: Race, Class, and Representation in American Local Politics,” authors Brian F. Schaffner, Jesse H. Rhodes, and Raymond J. La Raja, found that wealthier, white men who dominate the political pipelines from local office to state office to Congress, are more likely to act less equitably once in office than officials who better reflect the diversity of our country.
I have no doubt our new state leaders will conduct themselves with the highest levels of propriety but since I’m already praying, I’m also going to add another prayer that the people of Georgia will grant these Black women the same space and grace to do their jobs that was afforded to their white male predecessors. We must allow these women to show up for the job as their authentic selves.
Hearing Bottoms tackle questions about how she plans to move policies forward in a state where the Senate remains under Republican control was a reminder of the difficulties each woman will face in delivering us from further harm without threatening those who harmed us.
“Georgia is not a place that does well with extremes on one side or the other. We do very well, all things in moderation,” said Bottoms in a recent interview with The New York Times. “We find those things that we can agree on and work together to get them done for the good of the people.”
Even before Bottoms has taken office, Republican legislators buzzed about the prospect of curtailing her power as governor. Gov. Brian Kemp had the good sense to avoid calling a special legislative session that would allow current legislators to redraw political maps in their favor or restrict Bottoms’ political power. But this isn’t a threat that we should easily dismiss.
When the impulse from state leaders is even to imagine the prospect of limiting power of the incoming governor and subverting the will of voters, it portends the dangers that may lie ahead.
On the flip side, we the people can’t be so seduced by the power of representation that we forget to have expectations. Holding Bottoms and the other elected Black women leaders accountable for what they have promised is key.
State and national leaders of a certain ilk could easily fall back on twisted applications of diversity, equity and inclusion in attempts to discredit highly qualified and competent Black women.
It will be one battle after another for the Bottoms and the other Black women soon to be leading our state. I’m praying that they keep winning.
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