ATLANTA – Democrats have their best chance in more than two decades to win control of Georgia’s governorship.

All that’s standing in their way is a billionaire Republican — and after the race’s only debate on Tuesday night, that obstacle looks formidable.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Democratic nominee, has trailed billionaire healthcare executive Rick Jackson, the GOP pick, in nearly every public survey since the start of September, though by minuscule margins.

The roots of Jackson’s advantage? A seemingly bottomless war chest, fueled by Jackson’s own wealth, which has enabled him to spend $62 million on ads so far, with another $22 million worth of television airtime reserved, according to AdImpact. By contrast, Bottoms’ main campaign committee has spent just $12.5 million.

Bottoms told HuffPost last week that while she’d welcome similar financial advantages, she feels voter momentum is on her side, pointing to the surge in voter turnout: over a million Democrats voted early or on primary day, a recent record high.

“Would I like to have the millions that he has to put up on TV?” Bottoms asked during an event at a bustling BP gas station in Atlanta, highlighting the state’s skyrocketing costs. “I certainly would. But what I do know is that even without that, we have the people, and that’s what matters.”

The stakes are high: A strong performance could help Democrats flip the Georgia state House, which could lead to a more robust Medicaid expansion and give the party more input into drawing legislative and congressional district lines after the next census. Bottoms’ victory would make her the first Black woman elected governor anywhere in the country.

She is beginning to close the spending gap. The major group backing her, Project Battleground, has reserved $2 million worth of ad time for the coming week, though that still trails the nearly $7 million Jackson plans to spend. And she insists her ability to hang with Jackson despite getting swamped with ads points to the underlying strengths of her campaign.

“This is a guy who’s put up almost $100 million alone just to slander my name on television, and even with that, by just about every poll, we are tied,” Bottoms said. “Some polls even have me up, so people shouldn’t be discouraged. They just need to show up and vote.”

Her team is taking aim at Jackson’s promise to be like Trump “with a Southern tone” and that he’d be his “favorite governor.” Another advertisement released Tuesday hits Jackson over leaked audio that suggested that women should “prove” they were raped before being eligible for the state’s exception to their current abortion ban. At the time of the leak, Jackson’s campaign pushed back, saying Jackson wasn’t interested in any change to the state’s current statute.

Jackson’s campaign has used its money advantage to hammer Bottoms over her record as mayor, from 2018 to 2022, which included overseeing the city during the COVID pandemic and the subsequent nationwide spike in crime. Bottoms opted not to run for reelection, and Jackson has accused her of abandoning Atlanta, being soft on crime and being out of touch.

“When Atlanta needed Keisha’s full attention, she looked toward the next opportunity. Even The New York Times reported she wasn’t fully engaged in the day-to-day work,” Jackson wrote on X in late September. “Georgia isn’t a stepping stone and the Governor’s Office isn’t an audition.”

Jackson’s campaign manager Garrison Douglas told HuffPost in a statement that their team is running a “historic ground game operation” alongside their media investments.

“While this effort has resulted in Keisha Lance Bottoms turning a self-promoted seven-point lead into a two-to-three-point deficit, Rick Jackson is not letting up, refusing to be outworked by anyone, and is committed to sharing his story and vision with Georgians every day,” Douglas said.

Democrats both in and out of the state are not deterred by Jackson and his allies’ piles of money, believing in part that voters’ growing distaste for President Donald Trump — and any perceived affiliation between Jackson and the president — is impossible to obscure behind the millions.

“It’s absolutely winnable,” said national Democratic strategist Josh Marcus-Blank, who worked for Geoff Duncan, one of Bottoms’ rivals during the Democratic primary. “I do think that he could be close to, if not at, his high point, and as she continues to spend, which she’s going to do, and you’re starting to see her run negative ads, it’s going to put her in a stronger position.”

Jackson’s campaign maintains it’s putting its foot on the gas in the closing weeks and sees Jackson’s multi-million spend as a sign of desperation.

“Rick Jackson blowing through hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t a sign of his strength, it’s proof of his desperation,” Bottoms campaign manager Tharon Johnson told HuffPost in a statement. “Despite his constant presence on every television station and social media app, he’s tied with Mayor Bottoms because she knows this race won’t be won with sound bites.”

“We’ve more than tripled our media investment over the past weeks — and we will see undecided voters swing her way,” Johnson added.

During Tuesday night’s debate, Jackson maintained he wouldn’t be beholden to Trump, saying he plans to model himself after Georgia’s current governor, Republican Brian Kemp: “I don’t owe anybody anything, nobody has ever told me what to do. My number one priority is Georgians [...] and I will stand up to anybody, just like Brian Kemp has done.” Both Trump and Kemp have endorsed Jackson.

Meanwhile, national Democrats have thrown their weight behind Bottoms to help push her over the finish line: Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff has invested over $3.6 million into the state party’s downballot efforts; Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigned alongside Bottoms; and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore took part in a virtual rally.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who also serves as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, appeared alongside Bottoms at his book event in Atlanta last week and underscored that the group is “fully behind” her victory. The DGA is the campaign’s largest donor, injecting over $8 million into the race, the group says, and sees the contest as a key pickup prospect.

“Slick Rick Jackson could not be a more flawed nominee — and no amount of money can change that,” DGA spokesperson Kevin Donohoe told HuffPost in a statement. He pointed to Bottoms’ commitment to expanding Medicaid and lowering costs as a reason for optimism. “That’s why Keisha is in a strong position in this race despite all of Slick Rick’s spending.”

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