Terry Richards | The Valdosta Daily TimesStacey Abrams, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, meets voters at a campaign stop earlier this month at the Dexter Sharper Center in Valdosta.

ATLANTA — Georgia Democrats gave Atlanta lawyer Stacey Abrams a chance to become the first black female governor in American history on a primary night that ended well for several women seeking office.

Abrams set new historical marks with a primary victory Tuesday that made her the first black nominee and first female nominee for governor of either majority party in Georgia.

Lowndes County votes reflected the same trend as Democratic voters across the state.

Abrams garnered 2,417 votes, or 77.7 percent, in Lowndes County, with Democratic opponent Stacey Evans getting 693 votes, or 22.2 percent, according to results on the Georgia Secretary of State website.

Lowndes County numbers also reflected the statewide trend in the Republican gubernatorial race which will lead to a run-off election between front-runner Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Cagle garnered 1,921 votes, or 35.9 percent in Lowndes County; Kemp received 1,466, or 27.4 percent; Hunter Hill got 1,108 votes, or 20.7 percent; Clay Tippins gained 519 votes, or 9.7 percent; Michael Williams earned 329 votes, or 6.1 percent, according to the SOS office.

Democrats were set to nominate a woman for governor either way, with Abrams and Evans battling it out in a pitched primary fight.

But the 44-year-old Abrams stood out in her bid to be the nation’s first African-American woman to lead a state. The former state General Assembly leader was insistent that the way to dent Republican domination in Georgia wasn’t by cautiously pursuing the older white voters who had abandoned Democrats during recent decades.

Rather, she wanted to widen the electorate by attracting young voters and nonwhites who hadn’t been casting ballots.

She will test her theory as the underdog against either Cagle or Kemp, who will meet in the Republican runoff in July.

Abrams visited Valdosta in recent weeks during the campaign.