Barack Obama has thrown his support behind Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia's governor race, releasing a video endorsement that praises her record as Atlanta's mayor just weeks before voters decide a closely contested statewide race. Bottoms, the Democratic nominee, is squaring off against Republican Rick Jackson in a race that multiple recent polls show within a few points either way.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, Obama called on voters to support Bottoms and credited her with delivering historic pay raises for police officers and firefighters, balancing Atlanta's budget without raising taxes, and investing in young people during her time leading the city. He also said she would work to guarantee pre-K for every four-year-old in Georgia if elected. Bottoms has experience as a judge, council member and mayor, and she previously served in the Biden administration, according to NBC News, which also identifies Jackson as a billionaire healthcare executive running for governor.
Jackson, for his part, does not carry the backing of President Donald Trump; Trump endorsed Jackson's primary rival, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones. Obama has endorsed Bottoms, while Trump endorsed Jones.
A Debate That May Be the Only One
The endorsement lands days after Bottoms and Jackson met for what was billed as their only joint debate before the Nov. 3 election, according to the Georgia Recorder. The two clashed over healthcare, affordability, data centers and election policy during the Tuesday night faceoff, which the Georgia Recorder reported took place in Doraville. Bottoms told the crowd she would not be a rubber stamp for the White House, saying, “I will stand up to Donald Trump when necessary. I'm not running to be his favorite governor,” per NBC News.
On healthcare, Bottoms repeated her push to expand Medicaid, an issue she has tied to an estimated 300,000 uninsured Georgians, while Jackson said he would pursue what he called intelligent Medicaid expansion instead, the Georgia Recorder reported. Bottoms has also proposed strengthening rural hospitals and giving communities the option to eliminate grocery taxes, alongside broader plans to cut state or local taxes on items like auto insurance, hygiene products and diapers, NBC News reported. Jackson countered with his own tax plan, reiterating promises to cut state income taxes, property taxes and taxes on certain utilities.
Data Centers Emerge as a Flashpoint
Few issues divided the candidates as sharply as data centers. Bottoms called for a statewide pause on new construction, telling debate viewers, “I want a pause on all new construction until we create a path forward,” according to the Georgia Recorder. Jackson rejected a blanket moratorium, arguing instead for local control, saying “Every community should decide” whether to approve new facilities, environmental standards and transparency requirements.
The fight over data centers isn't unique to Georgia. New York's governor ordered the first statewide moratorium on large-scale facilities in July, and Texas followed with its own ban in August before broadening it the following month, the Georgia Recorder reported. In Georgia's own legislature, lawmakers from both parties introduced roughly 20 bills this year aimed at regulating the facilities, but none reached the governor's desk.
Voting rights also divided the two candidates. Bottoms said she would push for a John Lewis Voting Rights Act for Georgia that would expand voting days and hours, validate student IDs for voting and make Election Day a state holiday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Jackson defended the state's existing election laws and deferred to Kemp on federal involvement, the AJC reported.
Polls Show a Dead Heat
The endorsement arrives as surveys paint a genuinely uncertain picture. A Big Data Poll conducted September 21-23 found Jackson leading Bottoms 47.6% to 45.7% among registered voters and 48.7% to 46.7% among likely voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus four points, according to Newsweek. After accounting for voters leaning toward a candidate, that same poll put Jackson at 50.5% to Bottoms's 49.5%. A YouGov survey of 3,447 registered voters similarly found Jackson ahead 45% to 44%, Newsweek reported.
Other polls have shown the race swinging the other direction. A Quantus Insights survey the previous month gave Bottoms 46.4% to Jackson's 44.9%, and a July Fox News survey showed her leading 52% to 47%, per the same Newsweek analysis. An InsiderAdvantage Georgia Survey cited by WABE on September 23 showed Jackson ahead 48% to 46%, with 6% undecided. NBC News summed up the dynamic simply: public polls show the two locked in a close race four weeks out from Election Day.
Money has become as central to the race as the polling. Jackson has poured tens of millions of dollars of his own fortune into advertising, outspending Bottoms seven to one as of the week before the debate, according to NBC News. Georgia's political volatility is nothing new — the state backed Trump in 2024 after voting for Joe Biden in 2020, Newsweek noted. Obama's endorsement joins an earlier one from former President Joe Biden, who also backed Bottoms, according to WGXA, giving Bottoms two former presidents in her corner as she tries to close the gap before November.
