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Georgia

Bottoms Visits Crawfordville Before Taking Office

Georgia's governor-elect stopped in Crawfordville to honor a family connection to her great-great-grandmother Betsy Peek.

Updated on Nov. 5, 2026 in African-American

Gouache-painted editorial illustration of a weathered stone marker in red clay beneath a tall pine at golden hour, evoking a family's rural Georgia roots.
Georgia Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms visited Crawfordville before taking office in January, paying respects at the gravesite of her great-great-grandmother Betsy Peek. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Keisha Lance Bottoms, Georgia's governor-elect, visited Crawfordville before election day to recognize a family connection. She visited the gravesite of her great-great-grandmother Betsy Peek at Friendship Baptist Church.

Why it matters

Bottoms will take office in January as the first Black governor in U.S. history, and her visit highlights the personal and historical ties that run through her campaign and public life in Georgia.

Bottoms will be the first Black governor in U.S. history when she takes office in January 2027. The extraction does not provide further quantitative measures of her visit.

The players

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Keisha Lance Bottoms is Georgia's governor-elect and will become the first Black governor in U.S. history when she takes office.

Betsy Peek

Betsy Peek was Bottoms' great-great-grandmother, buried at Friendship Baptist Church in Crawfordville.

The details

Bottoms stopped in Crawfordville, where she visited with local residents and paid respects at the gravesite of Betsy Peek at Friendship Baptist Church. Crawfordville's mayor said so many people attended that parking was hard to find.

Timeline

  1. Before election day (2026): Bottoms visits Crawfordville to recognize her family connection.

  2. January 2027: Bottoms takes office as Georgia governor.

Legacy

Bottoms' election as the first Black governor in U.S. history marks a milestone in Georgia's gubernatorial record. Her Crawfordville visit connects that milestone to a family lineage rooted in Taliaferro County.

Georgia residents can follow the governor transition as Bottoms prepares to take office in January 2027. The visit was a public event open to local residents in Crawfordville.

The takeaway

Bottoms' visit shows how family history can anchor a historic political milestone in the communities that shaped it.

What happens next

Bottoms will take office in January 2027.

Further reading

Explore more in African-American coverage on Wisevoter.

Source note: This article includes information reported by WJBF News Channel 6.