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Bottoms runs for Georgia governor

News · Heat 1.4 / 10 · 2 shows · 42m airtime

Keisha Lance Bottoms announced on September 28 that she is running for governor of Georgia against Rick Jackson. She says Jackson skipped six debates and spent almost $100 million on TV, and she calls his 14 to 19 percent loan to a failing Alabama hospital loan sharking. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released October 23 shows her winning independent voters. She has also called for a moratorium on new data center construction, with Georgia now leading the country in new builds. Voter registration closes October 5 and early voting starts October 13, with hundreds of thousands purged from the rolls.

How 2 podcasts covered it

  1. The Breakfast Club, 2026-09-28 (40:14 to 1:04:50)
    Lays out Bottoms's case against Jackson
    Bottoms makes her case against Rick Jackson: six skipped debates, the largest ad buy in Georgia history, fines for human trafficking and Medicare fraud, and a no-bid COVID contract. She also lays out the voting calendar and the roll purges.
    New angle: Bottoms says Jackson skipped six debates and spent almost $100 million on TV.
  2. Pod Save America, 2026-10-23 (1:06:46 to 1:11:17)
    Interviews Bottoms on her pre-campaign biography
    Interview with Bottoms about her 2021 decision to leave the Atlanta mayor's office, her father's death and her COVID response, framed as the setup for her governor run. Background and biography, not a new development in the campaign.
  3. Pod Save America, 2026-10-23 (1:11:17 to 1:13:55)
    Presses Jackson's hospital loan interest rate
    Bottoms, in her own interview, lays out what she would do as governor: expand Medicaid in one of ten holdout states, and attack Jackson's shifting position on expansion by tying his fortune to a failing Alabama hospital loan at 14 to 19 percent interest.
    New angle: Jackson extended a failing Alabama hospital a loan at 14 to 19 percent interest, which Bottoms calls loan sharking.
  4. Pod Save America, 2026-10-23 (1:16:15 to 1:21:38)
    Cites the AJC poll on independents
    Bottoms makes her pitch to Ossoff-leaning split-ticket voters on Medicaid, school funding and mental health, and puts a new number on the race: an AJC poll out that day shows her winning independents while she stays tied overall.
    New angle: An Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll released that day shows Bottoms winning independent voters.
  5. Pod Save America, 2026-10-23 (1:21:38 to 1:26:47)
    Reports Bottoms's data center moratorium call
    Bottoms, in her own interview, calls for a moratorium on new data center construction in Georgia and says the state now leads the country in new builds, past Northern Virginia. She also warns that a governor who embraced Trump would certify a stolen election and cites 260 FBI agents sent to Fulton County.
    New angle: Bottoms calls for a moratorium on new data center construction; Georgia now leads the country in new builds.
Unpacking...