Senator draws Democratic notice as 2026 midterm messenger
Nearly a decade ago, as a 30-year-old congressional candidate in Georgia’s suburbs, Jon Ossoff promised to “cut wasteful spending” and make “both parties in Washington” accountable to voters, according to the AP. His Republican opponent at the time complained that Ossoff “talks like a Republican.”
In the years since losing that 2017 race and narrowly winning a U.S. Senate seat during a runoff in 2021, Ossoff’s message has shifted. Running for reelection this November against Trump-endorsed Rep. Mike Collins, Ossoff is delivering strong criticism of President Donald Trump, calling him a “national disgrace,” the head of a “Mar-a-Lago mafia” and the leader of “the most corrupt administration of all time,” the AP reported.
The 39-year-old senator has always been a vessel for Trump opposition, regardless of his specific campaign messaging, the AP reported. But he has now openly embraced that role. His approach is being noticed across the Democratic spectrum, from activists looking for the right message in the 2026 midterms to those considering viable presidential candidates for 2028.
This week, Trump renewed his fixation on false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election — the election that brought Ossoff to Washington. The senator responded by calling Trump the “world’s most famous sore loser,” according to the AP.