African American Candidates for Governor Make History with 2026 Midterm Victories

By Emily Mae Czachor

November 5, 2026 / 2:07 PM EST / CBS News

Americans elected their first Black woman into a gubernatorial role during the 2026 midterms, alongside four other Black candidates who won races for governor around the United States on Tuesday.

The races culminated, respectively, in victories for Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, in Georgia; Byron Donalds, a Republican, in Florida; David Crowley, a Democrat, in Wisconsin; Aaron Ford, a Democrat, in Nevada; and Wes Moore, also a Democrat, who was reelected to serve a second term as governor of Maryland. He became the state's first Black governor when he was elected in 2022. 

Including Moore, only three Black Americans have previously been elected to serve as U.S. governors. Former New York Gov. David Paterson, who is also Black, became governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008. 

Once Bottoms and Crowley were projected the winners in their races, Moore reflected on their wins to CBS News on Tuesday, calling the victories "incredibly important."

"This is exciting, because up until this moment, I was the only Black governor in America. And I was very clear that that's a title that I did not want to hold onto for very long," said Moore. "I'm only the third African American ever elected governor in the 250-year history of this country, and, now, in one cycle, we have at least doubled that number. I just think it's incredibly important. It's a historic moment."

Bottoms has been hailed as a trailblazer for more reasons than one, as she will become the first Black woman elected to a gubernatorial position in U.S. history. She will also be the first woman to serve as governor of Georgia when she joins the ranks of a record-high number of women — 17 — in governor's offices nationwide. 

She told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King on Wednesday that she had been trying to tune out the results when she learned that she won.

"I had put in my AirPods to work on my speech, and my husband was on the sofa near me, laying near me, and he kicked me," said Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor. "I went like, 'What?' He said, 'They called it.' And I said, 'Called what?' And so that's how I knew."

Donalds, who served as U.S. representative for Florida's 19th District after his election to that spot in 2020, is now also slated to become Florida's first Black governor. He is also the first Black Republican elected governor in the nation.

In Wisconsin, Crowley, a moderate Democrat, defeated Republican challenger Tom Tiffany in the culmination of a governor's race that played out in one of the country's most purple states. Tiffany, a U.S. representative, is also one of President Trump's top allies. 

Ford, who was elected as Nevada's attorney general in 2018, won his state's gubernatorial race against Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, CBS News projected on Thursday. He will become Nevada's first Black governor and the first Black governor ever elected west of the Mississippi.