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Newsbusters

‘Barrier Falls,’ ‘Googly Eyes’; ABC Celebrates Blue Georgia a Night ‘For the History Books’

Newsbusters
‘Barrier Falls,’ ‘Googly Eyes’; ABC Celebrates Blue Georgia a Night ‘For the History Books’

'Barrier Falls,' 'Googly Eyes'; ABC Celebrates Blue Georgia a Night 'For the History Books'

Curtis Houck
November 3rd, 2026 11:15 PM
Screenshot via ABC/Snapstream

On election night 2026, Disney-owned ABC News was just shy of suffering thrills up their legs in celebrating Georgia going blue across the ticket, celebrating it as "a new chapter in America history," proof that "a barrier falls," and a night "for the history books," between Keisha Lance Bottoms winning the governorship and Jon Ossoff's Senate reelection triggering "googly eyes" among the masses for a possible 2028 presidential bid.

Just after 9:30 p.m. Eastern, Sunday World News Tonight anchor and ABC News Live host Linsey Davis gushed to weekday anchor David Muir that Lance Bottoms's victory "really speaks to how long this took and at the same time, how far this country has come that you now have the first black female governor of any state in this country."

Davis could barely contain her open support for Lance Bottoms, calling the win "a barrier fall[ing]" in the Deep South that "really writes a new chapter in American history."

"There are those election nights, David, that you remember for the margins and those for the milestones, and this is one certainly for the history books," Davis added.

The ABC News Live host also fawned over Lance Bottoms's move to spend time on election eve at her great-great-grandmother's grave:

When I was in Georgia with her last month, I had the opportunity to ask her what this moment would mean if she became the first black female governor, and she said, for me, 'it's much more personal. My family goes back at least five generations in Georgia. For me, it speaks to the possibility of this state and this country only in America.' She is a descendant of the enslaved on both sides, and one thing that I found that was really poignant was on election eve — so yesterday, she went and visited the gravestone of her great-great-grandmother who was born enslaved in this country, and now, generations later, she becomes the first black female governor of any state.

Muir obviously agreed: "Yeah, it's a remarkable story tonight. A milestone met in Georgia."

Atlanta-based correspondent Steve Osunsami spent much of the night grinning from ear to ear and openly giggling with excitement about his team's victories.

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Osunsami swooned to Muir that "I don't think it could be overstated what's happening in Georgia tonight," with Ossoff being "the vehicle who lifted the waters for all of these candidates, including Keisha Lance Bottoms."

"I keep looking at my phone and refreshing the numbers, and I'm having trouble believing it...I have a prop that I have been saving for this moment. These are the fliers that have come to my home, and like 80 percent of them are from Rick Jackson. I have got very few of these from Keisha Lance Bottoms. He ran an incredible campaign, and she still won," he continued.

He then made the embarrassing boast of Ossoff that it's left people with "googly eyes" about 2028 (click "expand"):

OSUNSAMI: When you — when you look at what happened here and what's happening in Georgia, we have Republicans now who control all levers of state government here who are telling me that this is now a blue state, and this is significant because, as we have been talking about, the man speaking directly behind me, lots of people are looking at him with googly eyes about possibly running for president in a couple of years. This is the first step. Keisha Lance Bottoms winning helps him with that. This is something I've never seen. It's hard for me to even accept that this is a blue state, as people are saying, but that appears to be what is happening tonight in Georgia.

MUIR: So, let's ask you about that. In addition to the history made by Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta. Of course, people remember her. She had a role in the Biden administration. She was also in Atlanta during the time of Covid. People got to know her around the country as a national figure through all of that. She makes history tonight. Jon Ossoff, who repeatedly, Steve said on the trail, I have no interest in running for president. We've heard that from candidates before who then had a significant victory, and then it propels them to the national stage. And, of course, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but at the same time, you have to state the obvious here, that he is a name that has been widely talked about this campaign cycle. Not only, and that was before the victory tonight. This is a sizable victory for really both of these candidates. Jon Ossoff and Keisha Lance Bottoms. But when it comes to Jon Ossoff, people are immediately going to say, a Democrat from the South, a sizable victory, and they're going to look to his campaign he stayed on message. He was not afraid to take on the current president and talked what he thought about the issues that were important to the people, the economy, gas prices, the health care. But also, one of the first candidates to really make corruption, as he saw it, a significant issue for his campaign and people are going to ask, is he going to quietly be considering a run for president?

OSUNAMI: So, I have asked people that tonight, I've asked his people directly — I keep asking and the response I keep getting is that Jon Ossoff is going to remain senator, that he's going to do that job. And then I follow that with, you know, we've heard that before. You know, have to sort of look at the conditions and look at what's happening. And sort of believe that that's a real possibility, and they have to be thinking about that. There is also a second senator who is here tonight, Senator Warnock, who is also being talked about as potentially a candidate in a couple of years for president. So, that conversation is only going to get louder and louder and louder because it will be fair to say that he, Jon Ossoff, who again, who is speaking right now, led what many people see right now as a blue, and I hate to say wave, but wave in Georgia.

MUIR: Steve Osunsami witnessing what is a significant night in the state of Georgia.

Throughout the night leading up to that live shot, Osunsami was already bursting at the seams.

At 6:07 p.m. Eastern, Osunsami smiled at the "momentous" possibility Lance Bottoms would win the governorship even though she faced "criticisms for how she ran" Atlanta during the Black Lives Matter riots:

Fast-forward to 7:50 p.m. Eastern, Osunsami openly chuckled his way through his report as though he were on a roller coaster or watching a funny movie:

Osunsami resurfaced at the bottom of the following hour and, when asked to describe "the vibe of the room" at the Georgia Democratic election night party, he proclaimed: "The vibe is ecstatic; the vibe is cautiously optimistic for the other candidates. You know, I've got to tell you, they have been cheering all night here."

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To see the relevant ABC transcript from November 3, click here.


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