At Obama rally in Georgia, Black women contemplate the impossible: Winning

It’s been nearly 30 years since a Democrat has won the race for governor in Georgia. But no matter the party, Georgia has never elected a woman or a Black candidate to lead the state.

Next Tuesday, it could do both.

Becoming the first Black female governor in the state and in the nation is not a milestone Keisha Lance Bottoms dwells on mentions frequently in her campaign. As Hillary Clinton showed, it’s easy to lose the focus on voters when a campaign becomes focused on the candidate’s achievements instead. Also, why add the weight of more than 200 years of precedent to the long list of reasons Democrats worry they could lose this election, like so many before?

But with polls showing Bottoms tied with billionaire Republican Rick Jackson and the crowds and early voting hinting at good news for Democrats, Black women in Georgia have started to let themselves ask, “What if?”

“Oh, don’t start me to crying,” said Georgetta Royals, as she thought about what it would mean for Bottoms to lead the state where her family was once enslaved. “It would make me emotionally proud, politically hopeful. As a woman of color, ecstatic.”

Royals was one of more than 8,000 people who went to the Democratic unity rally on Wednesday night featuring Bottoms, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and former President Barack Obama. She called the moment energizing and electric, but even thinking about Bottoms winning had her holding back tears.

State Sen. Gail Davenport went to the rally with her sister, Carolyn. Decades ago, their mother attended Clayton County schools, which were segregated at the time, went to college, and then returned to teach in Clayton County for 38 years.

“Only in America are all those things possible,” Sen. Davenport said. “We can see that things are changing and things are looking good.”

Davenport represents Clayton County and said that Democrats are united in a way that makes her believe they could really win this time. If Bottoms were to win, it would mean something extra.

“To have a Black woman in that position would send a message to Georgia and the world and young people that people who look like me, people who went to the public schools in Georgia, separate and unequal, can make a change now, and can do well,” she said.

After more than two decades of losing governor races, including Gov. Brian Kemp’s 2018 victory over Stacey Abrams by 55,000 votes, one of the biggest hurdles Democratic leaders face is convincing voters that winning constitutional offices is possible and their votes can make it happen.

So having three people on stage — Ossoff, Obama and Warnock — who also became “firsts” with their own elections was a reminder to the crowd that all things in politics are possible, even if they haven’t happened yet.

Warnock said electing Bottoms would send an especially strong message in a year when President Donald Trump had demanded that Republican states redraw their political lines to maximize their GOP advantage.

“They think they can gerrymander us out of power,” Warnock told the crowd. “Wouldn’t it be poetic if we sent a girl named Keisha to the Governor’s Mansion?”

“Yes, she can!” the crowd yelled back.

Just being the “first” of anything has never gotten anyone elected, so Bottoms’ campaign speeches are full of plans and promises on everything from Medicaid expansion to universal access to free pre-K to ending Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. She went into detail Wednesday night, as she usually does, about pay increases for teachers, a moratorium on new data center construction and a plan to fortify rural hospitals.

But just before she finished, she told a story she had not yet shared in this campaign about driving past the Governor’s Mansion as a 6-year-old girl during a crosstown drive to pick her grandmother up at work and dreaming of walking inside someday.

“Fifty years later, I will not just walk into the Governor’s Mansion, but the State Capitol as well,” Bottoms said. “Bringing with me the hopes and dreams of little boys and girls all across Georgia, who are counting on their governor to make decisions about their future that will make all things possible.”

The crowd rose to its feet and chanted, “Yes, you can!”

As Attania Jean-Funny drove away from the rally later that night with her daughter, Jordan, in the back seat, she said she was more convinced than ever that Bottoms and the entire Democratic ticket can win.

Not only is Bottoms “more than capable” of doing the job of governor — it would change what people think is possible, she said.

“To have someone there that looks like me and my daughter? It would mean everything.”