Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is reviving Democratic optimism about winning Georgia’s governor’s mansion for the first time in nearly 25 years, with party strategists increasingly viewing her as the candidate who could accomplish what Stacey Abrams could not: delivering a statewide Democratic victory in one of the nation’s premier battlegrounds.

Bottoms turned in a commanding performance in Tuesday’s primary, clearing the field outright and avoiding the expensive runoff many of her opponents hoped would weaken her standing and expose cracks in her coalition. Instead, the decisive victory gives her an early advantage in the general election as Republicans remain consumed by a divisive runoff between billionaire Rick Jackson and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.