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Map the Midterms2026 midterms information · not official

Governor

Georgia Governor — 2026

Georgia elects a governor on November 3, 2026. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, faces Republican businessman Rick Jackson after party primaries and a Republican runoff.

Cook Political Report: Tossup (August 20, 2026)

What this office is

A governor is the state’s chief executive. Typical duties include proposing a budget, signing or vetoing bills, appointing some officials, and commanding the state National Guard under state and federal law. Term length and term limits are set by each state’s constitution. Lieutenant-governor pairing, if any, follows that state’s ballot design. Georgia can require a majority in a statewide general election; if no candidate reaches that threshold, official runoff rules apply.

Why it matters in 2026

Cook listed the open Georgia governorship as a toss-up on its August 2026 chart. The winner will sit over a Republican-held legislature entering the next redistricting decade and will share a ballot with Georgia’s U.S. Senate race. Primary vote totals are historical records on Ballotpedia; November certification is a state function.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited. The seat is open.

Use this page for the major-party November pairing. Other statewide constitutional offices appear on the same Georgia ballot.

Candidates

Names below are declared or nominated figures reported as of mid-September 2026. Party labels identify tickets only. This is not an endorsement and not a certified list.

Official portrait of Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Democratic

Democratic nominee after the May 2026 primary

Bottoms was mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and later served in the Biden White House as a senior adviser. She won the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor. Public biographies emphasize city executive work and federal service.

Read more:WikipediaBallotpedia

Photo: White House / public domain. Public domain (U.S. government work). Source

Rick Jackson

Republican

Republican nominee after the 2026 primary runoff

Jackson is a Georgia health-care executive and founder of Jackson Healthcare. Ballotpedia records him as the Republican nominee after a runoff that included Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger among the primary field.

Read more:Ballotpedia

Published polls

Published surveys tagged to GA GovernorIndividual published surveys. Not a Map the Midterms average and not a prediction.
PollsterDatesSampleDemRepSpread
Fabrizio Ward / Impact Research
Ballotpedia, Georgia gubernatorial election, 2026 (AARP-sponsored poll) · accessed September 17, 2026
Jul 13–16, 20261,060 LV · ±3.048Bottoms46JacksonBottoms +2

Questions readers ask

When is Election Day?
The 2026 U.S. midterm general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Early voting and mail-ballot calendars differ by state.
Is this the official candidate list for this governor’s race?
No. Map the Midterms is not an election office. Confirm qualified names with the Georgia Secretary of State and the official sample ballot for your address.
Are the poll numbers a forecast?
No. Tables show individual published surveys with the pollster, dates, sample, and a link. They are not a prediction and not an average unless a cited aggregator says so.

Other Georgia guides