Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, secured the Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. She easily outpaced a crowded field to secure more than 50 percent of the vote in the race to succeed Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican.
Ms. Bottoms had some of the strongest name recognition in the race, and focused unrelentingly on attacking President Trump.
She also managed to shake off doubts about her single-term performance as mayor during a remarkably tumultuous period for Atlanta. Her critics cast it as a vulnerability that would limit her success, while her supporters contended that such complaints were overblown and that voters had moved on, considering that she left office four years ago.
The November election will be a test of the Democratic Party’s strength in Georgia. It was once a Republican stronghold but emerged as a swing state in 2020 after narrowly siding with Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the presidential election.
But Democrats seeking the governor’s office have repeatedly come up short since the defeat of the last Democratic governor, Roy Barnes, in 2002.
Democrats believe their chances have been bolstered by the president’s unpopularity, bipartisan frustration over affordability, and a base outraged over the recent Supreme Court decision that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Still, the diverging profiles and platforms of the leading Democratic candidates in the primary reflected the party’s search for a winning approach.
The campaign also highlighted a simmering unease with Ms. Bottoms, who seemed initially to struggle to attract widespread support.
Ms. Bottoms, who became Atlanta mayor in 2018, was catapulted to national prominence during the turmoil of 2020 — first, as she defied Gov. Kemp’s aggressive push during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to reopen businesses, and then, as she pleaded with those who took to the streets to protest high-profile police killings.
She emerged as a possible Biden running mate that year.
But Ms. Bottoms also became emblematic of the woes confronting big-city mayors. She alienated Atlanta’s police force as crime rose and the department’s ranks thinned. Buckhead, a large and wealthy enclave that makes up a notable chunk of the city’s tax base, tried to secede. As disappointment among supporters rose, she decided against seeking a second term, taking a job in the Biden administration.
Yet she consistently led in the polls heading into Tuesday’s primary, focusing her attention on attacking Mr. Trump, as well as affordability issues and ambitious voting rights plans.
Rick Rojas is the Atlanta bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the South.
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