After months of campaigning, including rallies with Barack Obama, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and more prominent Atlanta figures, Jon Ossoff ’05 will now serve his second six year term as senator. On Nov. 3, Ossoff won Georgia’s senate race over Mike Collins, helping the Democratic party gain the majority in the Senate. The new ratio in the Senate is 54 Democrats to 44 Republicans. Alongside the Senate, the House of Representatives also flipped, and Democrats gained the majority. The ratio in the House is now 240 Democrats to 147 Republicans.
This was a critical win for the Democrats, as Ossoff helped to gain Democrat control of congress for the remaining two years of Trump’s presidency. Because of a huge wave of Democrat wins on election night, the Democrats have now taken control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Democrats are hopeful that this increase in power will prevent the nearly unchecked presidential power Trump was taking advantage of when congress was majority Republican.
Beyond the balance of Congress, Ossoff has become an even greater star within the Democrat party. Winning reelection as a Democrat in a state that helped Donald Trump win the presidential election in 2024 secures Ossoff as one of the party’s most prominent members. Ossoff’s victory has also sparked new chatter about possibly being nominated for the presidential election in 2028. Many news outlets have reported that Ossoff could be one of the top contenders for the presidential nomination.
Despite the headlines, Ossoff has repeatedly stated that he will serve his full six-year term as Senator. Before Georgia’s new governor-elect, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, was elected, Democrats worried that Ossoff running for president in 2028 would put Democrat control of congress at risk. Under Georgia law, if a senator resigns, the governor appoints a replacement, and polls before election day showed a tight race between Bottoms and Jackson. Now that Bottoms has secured Georgia’s governor position, some wonder if this might be an important opportunity for Ossoff to start a presidential campaign.
Ossoff’s former fourth grade teacher, Adrianne Fisher says Ossoff has, “always been really just thoughtful and interested in everything going on around him.”
Emily Orr ’05, a past classmate of Ossoff’s, says, “It is not surprising he was interested in politics, even in elementary school. I remember him talking about it even in first grade and through junior high.”
