Former President Joe Biden stepped back into electoral politics on Friday, endorsing former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the crowded Democratic primary for Georgia governor, his first public backing of any candidate since leaving the White House last year.
Biden delivered the endorsement in a video posted to his account on X, praising Bottoms in terms that echoed the language he used when he placed her on his vice-presidential shortlist in 2020. NBC News reported that Biden called Bottoms "smart," "focused," and someone who "gets things done."
The move tells you something about where Biden thinks his political capital still spends, and where Democrats believe they have an opening. Georgia hasn't elected a Democratic governor since Roy Barnes won in 1999 and served until 2003. Yet Democrats have treated the state as perpetually competitive ever since Stacey Abrams came within less than two percentage points of defeating Brian Kemp in 2018.
In the endorsement video, Biden leaned on personal familiarity with Bottoms, who served as a senior adviser in his administration after her time running Atlanta.
"I've known her for a long time, and she's something special. The same qualities that made her a great mayor made her invaluable to our administration."
He closed with a line aimed squarely at Democratic primary voters: "Georgia, she's ready. She's been ready."
The endorsement is notable not just for its substance but for its timing. Biden has been largely absent from the political stage since his departure from the 2024 presidential race and the end of his term. That he chose a Georgia gubernatorial primary as the venue for his return says something about the race Bottoms is running, and the one Democrats are afraid of losing.
Bottoms enters the May 19 primary as the frontrunner, holding a lead in public polling. But the field is packed. Former Georgia state Sen. Jason Esteves, former state labor commissioner and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, and former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican who switched parties, are all competing for the Democratic nomination.
To avoid a runoff, Bottoms would need to clear more than 50 percent of the vote. Biden's endorsement is plainly designed to help her do exactly that, to consolidate the Democratic lane before the primary fractures into a drawn-out second round.
Whether Biden's name still carries that kind of weight with Georgia Democrats is an open question. His administration oversaw record inflation, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, and a presidency that ended with his own party maneuvering him off the 2024 ticket. The controversies surrounding his family did not burnish the Biden brand in swing states.
The GOP primary is equally crowded, and perhaps more consequential. Governor Kemp is term-limited, leaving an open seat that both parties want. Businessman Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones currently lead Republican polling. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr are also running.
NBC News noted that the Republican field is unlikely to avoid a runoff of its own, which means the general election matchup may not be clear for weeks after the primary.
For conservatives, the Georgia governor's race is a test of whether the state's rightward correction holds. Abrams's near-miss in 2018 launched a national narrative about Georgia turning blue. But Kemp dismantled that narrative in 2022, beating Abrams in a rematch by more than seven percentage points. The question now is whether Republicans can keep the seat without Kemp on the ballot.
Biden's decision to back Bottoms is a reminder that the Democratic establishment still operates on a loyalty-and-patronage model. Bottoms was on Biden's VP shortlist in 2020. She joined his administration. Now he is returning the favor. That is how the machine works.
But favors from a former president whose approval ratings cratered before he left office are a mixed blessing. Democrats have spent the post-Biden era trying to recalibrate their message on the economy, crime, and immigration, all issues where Biden's record left the party exposed. Attaching Bottoms to that record may energize the Democratic base in Atlanta. It may also hand Republicans a general-election weapon.
Duncan's presence in the Democratic primary is its own curiosity. A former Republican lieutenant governor running as a Democrat signals either a genuine political conversion or a calculation that the Georgia GOP no longer has room for him. Either way, it complicates the Democratic field by adding a candidate who may appeal to moderate suburbanites, the same voters Bottoms needs.
The broader Biden family's post-presidency profile has generated its own share of headlines, from Jill Biden's public appearances to ongoing debates about the former president's legacy. This endorsement is Biden's attempt to shape that legacy in real time, to prove he still matters in the states that matter most.
Georgia's gubernatorial race will be one of the most closely watched contests of 2026. Democrats need to flip the governor's mansion to prove their 2020 gains in the state were more than a one-cycle fluke. Republicans need to hold it to prove those gains were exactly that.
Biden is betting on Bottoms. Georgia voters will decide whether a former president's loyalty counts for more than his record.
