Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has defeated her Republican rival in the race to take over the state’s top office, paving the way for fresh affordable housing initiatives as Democrats claim victories in political races across the U.S.
Bottoms won the race with 55.3% of the vote, with 75% of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press. She is the first Black woman to be elected governor in the U.S. and is set to become the first Democratic Georgia governor since 2002.
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Bottoms is now positioned to implement plans aimed at streamlining permitting, expanding renter and down payment assistance, and creating a new trust fund for workforce and affordable housing, according to her campaign. Bottoms’ opponent, Republican Rick Jackson, had outraised her with donations from commercial real estate executives during the campaign.
Bottoms has also proposed fully funding the homeowner tax relief grant each year, which is currently a one-time program to reduce the assessed cost of homes for qualifying owners. The Homeowner Tax Relief Grant program was initiated by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to reimburse $950M in property taxes to homeowners.
“My property tax and homeowner relief plan will put $855 per year back in the pocket of the average qualifying homeowner,” Bottoms said in an opinion piece in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Whether you own or rent, you deserve to be able to afford a comfortable place to live here in Georgia.”
Bottoms has also called for a statewide data center moratorium to allow the state time to create a comprehensive policy on development. On the campaign trail, she has also proposed eliminating state tax incentives for digital infrastructure.
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The state’s housing affordability crisis, which critics have said was caused in part by a lack of new construction and a rash of home purchases by institutional investors, continues to deepen. The median home sale price in Metro Atlanta rose from $395K to $409K between 2024 and 2026, according to Redfin and Freddie Mac data reported by WABE. And hikes in interest rates have bled over to 30-year fixed mortgages, the lifeblood of home financing, rising from 6.43% to 6.49% during that same period.
It has become harder for many households to buy homes. The average annual income needed to qualify for a typical home mortgage with a 10% down payment surged 113% from $42,400 in 2020 to nearly $91K last year, according to the National Housing Conference. During that same period, the average annual salary rose just 27% to $61,100.
Bottoms is set to replace Kemp, who is finishing up his second term. During his administration, Kemp tackled housing affordability through the 2026 tax relief grant, awarding $62M to affordable housing organizations and creating a grant program to help spur workforce housing development in rural parts of the state.
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