‘It’s definitely the time’: Black governor hopefuls from both parties aim to make history in midterms

Americans have elected three Black governors in the nation’s 250-year history. By next week, that figure could multiply.

From Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia to Byron Donalds in Florida to David Crowley in Wisconsin, Black candidates are vying to lead eight states from the South to the Midwest to the West. In all, five Democrats are running in gubernatorial races, and three Republicans are vying to be the country’s first elected Black Republican governor.

“We’re a complicated, beautiful country,” said Bottoms, a Democrat who would become the first Black woman governor in the nation’s history if she wins. “Just because it hasn’t happened, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen real soon.”

Donalds, a Republican, said in a recent Fox News interview that “Black voters need to take a look at these elections and the policies that are gonna improve their lives, and more and more, you’ll find that that’s in the Republican Party.”

The eight Black nominees in governor’s races this year are seeking to force change that has been slow in coming, long after the ends of slavery and the Jim Crow era. While some carry favorable odds and others are long shots, taken together, they represent a record number of candidates in one cycle.

In 1989, Douglas Wilder became the nation’s first elected Black governor in Virginia. Deval Patrick in Massachusetts followed him in 2006. Maryland’s Wes Moore became the third elected Black governor in 2022 and is seeking reelection to a second term. (David Paterson served as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010 after being appointed to fill the term of Eliot Spitzer.)

Bottoms, 56, is the daughter of R&B singer Major Lance and Sylvia Robinson. She talks about her roots going back more than five generations in Georgia.

“For me, it’s so much more personal,” Bottoms said in an interview. “My people were once enslaved in this state.”

Still, the nominees largely have not spent much time emphasizing their potential to break through barriers in their own states — or the significance of the history-making moment if several of them win on November 3.

Nor have two history-making Democrats who have campaigned with several of them: former President Barack Obama, the first Black president, and Kamala Harris, who in addition to breaking racial barriers, was the first female vice president and in 2024 fell short of becoming the first woman elected president.

At an event Monday with Crowley, the Democratic nominee for Wisconsin governor, Harris recalled being asked by reporters to address “women’s issues.”

“I’d look at them and say, ‘I’m so glad you wanna talk about the economy,’” she said.

Still, last week in Nevada, where she campaigned alongside Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, who is taking on Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, Harris touted Ford’s chance to become the first Black governor west of the Mississippi River. She told culinary workers they were “going to make history” by electing him.

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In Georgia, Stacey Abrams twice ran for governor and fell short both times.

The disappointment Democrats had from those campaigns in 2018 and 2022 still hangs over Bottoms’ race. Yet she spends her time focused on the present, talking about how Georgia has fared in Trump’s second term.

“Everything is different with Trump 2.0,” Bottoms said. “We are now in the midst of a war that didn’t have to happen. Gas prices have gone up. Grocery prices are continuing to rise.”

Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, is set to appear Wednesday night at a metro Atlanta rally with Obama. The next day, Harris will also visit Georgia, underscoring the potential opportunity in a state where Democrats last elected a governor in 1998.

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Obama and Trump wage one last battle for even more urgent stakes

“I wake up as a Black woman every day, so it’s no surprise to me that I’m capable and I’m qualified and I’m able,” Bottoms said. “But if it’s representation for other people who may not have thought that it was possible, then it’s all worth it.”

She has been dramatically outspent by her GOP rival, businessman Rick Jackson, but is hoping her candidacy is lifted by the strength of Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who even Republicans acknowledge is likely to cruise to reelection.

“I’ve never felt the level of anxiety and sadness that I feel when I’m talking to people across the state,” Bottoms said. “But along with that, there’s hope and there’s optimism that we can turn the corner.”

Jackson has assailed Bottoms’ record of running Atlanta, saying: “Bad mayors don’t make good governors.” Yet at a campaign stop this week in Cedartown, he acknowledged concerns of his own as he addressed supporters.

“This race is tied at best,” Jackson said. “The only reason we’ll lose is if rural Georgia doesn’t show up to vote.”

Jackson has vastly outspent Bottoms in the race, thanks in part to hundreds of millions of dollars of his personal fortune. Since the beginning of the 2026 election cycle, pro-Jackson advertising has dwarfed pro-Bottoms advertising, $271.5 million to $32.8 million, according to AdImpact data. That includes nearly $199 million from Jackson’s campaign, which has relentlessly attacked Bottoms on crime in Atlanta.

That margin has narrowed slightly since the end of the parties’ primaries but Jackson is still well ahead, with the Republican and his supporters spending $107.2 million since June 17 to $28.1 million from pro-Bottoms forces.

At a campaign field office on the west side of Atlanta on Tuesday, Bottoms acknowledged the wide spending disparity in the race but said former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg had just made a $2.5 million donation to help finance get-out-the-vote efforts in the final week. The Democratic Governors Association also made a late $5 million contribution, bringing its total to about $16 million.

“Tell people it ain’t over until it’s over,” Bottoms said. “What we don’t want to have happen is have this record, extraordinary turnout and then we get overtaken at the end on Election Day.”

Sue Ross, a retired city worker, was making calls alongside other campaign volunteers and thinking of the possibility of making history next week if Bottoms is victorious.

“It’s definitely the time,” Ross said. “We can take this state with our troubled history and move it into the future. This election is not just about Georgia, it’s also about America.”

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Republicans have nominated three Black candidates in races for governor this year: Lisa Demuth, the former state House speaker, in Minnesota; Rep. John James in Michigan; and Donalds, the Trump-aligned congressman, in Florida.

Of the three, Donalds is believed to have the best chance of winning, thanks to Florida’s more favorable recent history for Republicans.

Donalds’ campaign has operated under the assumption that his historic candidacy could help him over-perform in Black communities. Shortly after winning the nomination, Donalds announced support from a coalition of African American leaders in the state, including Gainesville City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut, a Democrat critical of her own party’s all-White ticket.

But the racial dynamics of his candidacy have also presented challenges. It didn’t go unnoticed within Donalds’ campaign that 15 of the 16 counties Donalds lost in the August primary were in the state’s deeply conservative Panhandle, where the politics more closely resemble those of neighboring Southern states. In some places, Donalds finished third, despite carrying Trump’s endorsement.

David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for Florida governor, told CNN earlier this fall that he hopes skin color doesn’t “inform people’s vote” one way or the other, though he acknowledged some Black voters may choose to be part of history. Jolly, meanwhile, has sought to portray Donalds as out of step with Black communities on issues ranging from education to criminal justice.

A surprisingly close Florida governor race could upend national politics. Or is it a mirage?

Donalds’ own remarks on Black history have at times drawn backlash from both parties. In 2023, he broke with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis over new teaching standards that called for middle schoolers to learn how some African Americans benefited from slavery, sparking a heated response from DeSantis and his allies. A year later, Donalds drew ire from Democrats after claiming at a Black outreach event in Philadelphia that “during Jim Crow, the Black family was together” and “more Black people voted conservatively.”

The tensions surrounding his candidacy were on full display during a September event at Florida A&M University, a historically Black institution in Tallahassee. Facing an auditorium of skeptical students, Donalds defended his record on immigration and the Second Amendment, as well as his support for Supreme Court rulings that weakened the Voting Rights Act and taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools — issues that have stirred particular concern in Black communities. His remarks were met at times with groans, boos and some heated objections.

Donalds nevertheless fielded questions for several hours, remaining even after a fire alarm disrupted the event. He told CNN the next day that engaging in difficult conversations could help “bring down the temperature” and “break those walls down.”

“Every room you go into isn’t going to be a lovefest,” Donalds told CNN the next day.

The outreach, though, didn’t appear to win over many students. Myia Tucker, a student at Florida A&M, said after that while Donalds’ victory would be historic, she cares more about the policies he supports.

“Two things could be true at once,” Tucker said. “While it would be progress to elect an African American governor, I think it will also show that there are still work and policies that need to be implemented that affect us all.”

Her classmate, Desmond Whitfield, put it more bluntly.

“All skin folk ain’t kinfolk,” he said. “He may look like us, but his ideologies and his culture and what we value, he doesn’t value.”

CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.

在美国250年的历史中，美国人只选出过三位黑人州长。到下周，这个数字可能会成倍增长。

从佐治亚州的凯莎·兰斯·博顿斯到佛罗里达州的拜伦·唐纳兹，再到威斯康星州的戴维·克劳利，黑人候选人正在角逐八个州的州长职位，这些州分布在南部、中西部和西部。总共有五位民主党人参加州长竞选，而三位共和党人则力争成为美国历史上首位当选的黑人共和党州长。

“我们是一个复杂而美丽的国家，”民主党人博特姆斯说道。如果她当选，将成为美国历史上第一位黑人女州长。“仅仅因为这件事还没有发生，并不意味着它不会很快发生。”

共和党人唐纳兹在最近接受福克斯新闻采访时表示：“黑人选民需要关注这些选举以及能够改善他们生活的政策，你会发现，共和党越来越能提供这样的政策。”

今年州长竞选中的八位黑人候选人正寻求推动变革，尽管奴隶制和吉姆·克劳法时代早已结束，但变革的步伐依然缓慢。尽管有些候选人胜算较大，有些则希望渺茫，但他们加起来，创下了单届选举中候选人数的纪录。

1989年，道格拉斯·怀尔德当选弗吉尼亚州州长，成为美国历史上首位民选黑人州长。2006年，德瓦尔·帕特里克在马萨诸塞州继他之后当选州长。2022年，马里兰州的韦斯·摩尔成为第三位民选黑人州长，目前正在寻求连任。（戴维·帕特森在2008年至2010年期间担任纽约州州长，接替了埃利奥特·斯皮策的任期。）

现年56岁的博特姆斯是R&B歌手梅杰·兰斯和西尔维娅·罗宾逊的女儿。她谈到自己的家族在佐治亚州已经扎根五代以上。

“对我来说，这意义更加重大，”博特姆斯在一次采访中说。“我的族人曾经在这个州遭受奴役。”

不过，这些候选人大多没有花太多时间强调他们在各自州突破障碍的潜力，也没有强调如果他们中的几位在 11 月 3 日获胜，这将是一个具有历史意义的时刻。

还有两位创造历史的民主党人也曾与他们中的一些人一起竞选：前总统巴拉克·奥巴马，第一位黑人总统；以及卡马拉·哈里斯，她不仅打破了种族壁垒，还是第一位女性副总统，并在 2024 年未能成为第一位当选总统的女性。

周一，在与威斯康星州州长民主党候选人克劳利共同出席的活动中，哈里斯回忆起记者们要求她谈谈“女性问题”。

“我会看着他们说，‘我很高兴你们想谈谈经济问题，’”她说。

不过，上周在内华达州，哈里斯与民主党籍总检察长亚伦·福特一同竞选，福特正在挑战共和党籍州长乔·隆巴多。哈里斯大力宣传福特有望成为密西西比河以西首位黑人州长。她告诉餐饮业从业人员，他们如果选举福特，将会“创造历史”。

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在佐治亚州，斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯曾两次竞选州长，但都落选了。

2018年和2022年大选给民主党带来的失望仍然笼罩着博特姆斯的选情。然而，她却将注意力集中在当下，谈论佐治亚州在特朗普第二个任期内的表现。

“特朗普2.0时代一切都变了，”博特姆斯说。“我们现在身处一场本不该发生的战争之中。汽油价格上涨了，食品杂货价格也在持续上涨。”

前亚特兰大市长博顿斯将于周三晚与奥巴马一同出席在亚特兰大都会区举行的一场集会。第二天，哈里斯也将访问佐治亚州，这凸显了民主党在该州赢得选举的潜在机会——该州民主党上次选出州长还是在1998年。

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奥巴马和特朗普为了更加紧迫的利益展开最后决战

“我每天醒来都觉得自己是个黑人女性，所以我的能力、资格和才干对我来说并不意外，”博特姆斯说。“但如果这能为其他可能认为这不可能的人树立榜样，那么一切都是值得的。”

她的竞选经费远不及共和党对手、商人里克·杰克逊，但她希望民主党参议员乔恩·奥索夫的强势表现能够提振她的选情，就连共和党人也承认，奥索夫很可能轻松连任。

“我从未像与全州各地民众交谈时那样感受到焦虑和悲伤，”博特姆斯说。“但与此同时，我们也抱有希望和乐观，相信我们能够扭转局面。”

杰克逊抨击了博特姆斯治理亚特兰大的政绩，称：“糟糕的市长当不了好州长。”然而，在本周于锡达敦举行的一次竞选活动中，他在向支持者发表讲话时也承认了自己存在的担忧。

杰克逊说：“这场选举充其量只能说是势均力敌。我们输掉的唯一原因就是佐治亚州农村地区的选民不出来投票。”

杰克逊在竞选中的支出远远超过了博特姆斯，这部分要归功于他数亿美元的个人财富。根据AdImpact的数据，自2026年选举周期开始以来，支持杰克逊的广告支出已远远超过支持博特姆斯的广告支出，分别为2.715亿美元和3280万美元。这其中包括杰克逊竞选团队近1.99亿美元的支出，该团队持续不断地攻击博特姆斯在亚特兰大的治安问题上的表现。

自两党初选结束以来，这一差距略有缩小，但杰克逊仍然遥遥领先，自 6 月 17 日以来，这位共和党人及其支持者已花费 1.072 亿美元，而支持博特姆斯的阵营则花费了 2810 万美元。

周二，在亚特兰大西区的一个竞选办公室，博顿斯承认竞选支出存在巨大差距，但她表示，前纽约市市长迈克·布隆伯格刚刚捐赠了250万美元，用于资助最后一周的选民动员工作。民主党州长协会也追加了500万美元捐款，使其捐款总额达到约1600万美元。

“不到最后一刻，一切都未成定局，”博特姆斯说。“我们最不希望看到的情况是，尽管投票率创下纪录，而且异常高，但最终在选举日却被反超。”

退休市政工作人员苏·罗斯和其他竞选志愿者一起打电话，想着如果博特姆斯下周获胜，他们可能会创造历史。

“现在正是时候，”罗斯说。“我们可以带领这个有着坎坷历史的州走向未来。这次选举不仅仅关乎佐治亚州，也关乎整个美国。”

乔·雷德尔/盖蒂图片社

今年共和党提名了三位黑人候选人竞选州长：明尼苏达州的前州众议院议长丽莎·德穆斯；密歇根州的众议员约翰·詹姆斯；以及佛罗里达州的特朗普盟友、国会议员唐纳兹。

三人之中，唐纳兹被认为最有希望获胜，这得益于佛罗里达州近年来对共和党更为有利的历史。

唐纳兹的竞选活动一直秉持着这样的假设：他具有历史意义的参选经历能够帮助他在黑人社区获得超常发挥。赢得提名后不久，唐纳兹就宣布获得了该州非裔美国人领袖联盟的支持，其中包括盖恩斯维尔市议员辛西娅·切斯特纳特，这位民主党人曾批评本党候选人全部为白人。

但他的竞选也面临着种族因素带来的挑战。唐纳德竞选团队内部注意到，他在8月初选中输掉的16个县中，有15个位于该州保守势力强大的狭长地带，那里的政治格局更接近邻近的南方各州。在一些地区，尽管获得了特朗普的背书，唐纳德的得票数却只排在第三。

佛罗里达州州长民主党候选人戴维·乔利今年秋季早些时候告诉CNN，他希望肤色不会“影响人们的投票”，但他承认一些黑人选民可能会选择成为历史的一部分。与此同时，乔利一直试图将唐纳德描绘成在教育和刑事司法等一系列问题上与黑人社区脱节。

佛罗里达州州长选举结果出人意料地接近，这可能会颠覆全国政治格局。但这仅仅是海市蜃楼吗？

唐纳德关于黑人历史的言论有时会招致两党的强烈反对。2023年，他与共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯就新的教学标准发生冲突，该标准要求中学生学习一些非裔美国人如何从奴隶制中获益，这引发了德桑蒂斯及其盟友的强烈反弹。一年后，唐纳德在费城的一次黑人社区活动中声称“在吉姆·克劳时期，黑人家庭是团聚的”以及“更多黑人投票支持保守派”，此番言论激怒了民主党人。

唐纳德斯竞选总统的种种争议在9月于佛罗里达农工大学（位于塔拉哈西的一所历史悠久的黑人大学）举行的一场活动中暴露无遗。面对满堂持怀疑态度的学生，唐纳德斯为自己在移民和宪法第二修正案上的立场辩护，并支持最高法院削弱《投票权法案》和纳税人资助私立学校代金券的裁决——这些问题尤其引起了黑人社区的担忧。他的发言不时引来嘘声、喝倒彩和激烈的反对。

尽管如此，唐纳兹还是回答了几个小时的问题，甚至在火警警报中断活动后也留了下来。第二天，他告诉CNN，进行艰难的对话有助于“缓和紧张气氛”和“打破隔阂”。

“你走进的每个房间都不会充满爱意，”唐纳兹第二天告诉 CNN。

然而，这次宣传活动似乎并没有赢得多少学生的支持。佛罗里达农工大学的学生米娅·塔克事后表示，虽然唐纳德的胜选将具有历史意义，但她更关心他所支持的政策。

塔克说：“两件事可能同时成立。虽然选举一位非裔美国人州长是一种进步，但我认为这也表明，仍有许多工作和政策需要落实，这些工作和政策影响着我们所有人。”

她的同学德斯蒙德·惠特菲尔德的说法则更加直白。

“肤色相同的人未必都是亲戚，”他说。“他可能长得像我们，但他的思想、文化以及我们所珍视的东西，他并不认同。”

CNN的戴维·赖特对本报道亦有贡献。