ATLANTA — Georgia Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms told worshippers at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Nov. 8 that prayer guided her decision to run for governor. The former Atlanta mayor spoke five days after winning Georgia’s gubernatorial election and thanked the congregation for its prayers and votes.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Ebenezer’s senior pastor, introduced Bottoms during the service. He called attention to her family’s history, telling worshippers that a descendant of enslaved people would become Georgia’s next governor.
Bottoms recalled starting her campaign about a year and a half earlier, unsure how she would raise the money to compete. She said she had prayed about the decision and believed God was asking her to move beyond what felt familiar.
“God told me to go,” Bottoms said.
She likened the race against Republican businessman Rick Jackson to the encounter with Goliath. Bottoms said that hearing from voters as she traveled across Georgia reinforced her belief that God was with her during the campaign, even when she was unsure how it would pay its bills.
Bottoms recalled traveling to Crawfordville, Georgia, in the final days of the campaign. There, she said, she found the headstone of her great-great-grandmother, Betsy Peek, who was born into slavery. Bottoms described the visit as a chance to thank Peek and honor the generations that came before her.
The service took place in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood at the church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached. Among those in attendance were eighth graders from Denver who visited Ebenezer as part of a trip to learn about the civil rights movement.
Bottoms defeated Jackson in the Nov. 3 election, becoming the first woman elected governor of Georgia and the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state. She is set to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, who is completing his second term. Before running for governor, Bottoms served as a senior adviser to President Joe Biden and led the White House Office of Public Engagement.
After thanking the congregation, Bottoms turned to the responsibilities ahead. “And now the real work begins,” she said.
Sources
- WSB-TV, Atlanta News First and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the Nov. 8 church service. Atlanta
- Reuters and the Georgia Secretary of State reported the Nov. 3 election outcome and unofficial vote totals, respectively. reuters.com
