Jon Ossoff wins Georgia Senate reelection
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won a second Senate term, defeating Republican Rep. Mike Collins.
The result keeps a battleground-state seat in Democratic hands.
Background
Jon Ossoff is Georgia's Democratic U.S. senator, 39, first elected in a January 2021 runoff; he is Georgia's first Jewish senator and the Senate's youngest member. He entered this cycle as a top Republican target and the only Senate Democrat seeking reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024, but led in polling and out-raised his challenger throughout. His 2021 win, alongside Raphael Warnock's, handed Democrats control of the chamber.
How it unfolded
- Jan 6, 2021Ossoff and Warnock were declared winners of Georgia runoffs the day after Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol; Ossoff defeated Republican Sen. David Perdue.
- Mar 5, 2026An Emerson College Polling/Nexstar survey found Ossoff leading Collins 48% to 43% and Derek Dooley 49% to 41%.
- May 13, 2026Five men were on the GOP primary ballot; Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter and former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley led the pack.
- Oct 19, 2026Democrats' main super PAC was dark in Georgia and neither side spent the prior week, amid growing expectations Ossoff would win.
- Oct 28, 2026Ossoff rallied in south Atlanta with former President Barack Obama and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms.
- Nov 1, 2026Ossoff spoke at a campaign event in Douglasville, Georgia.
- Nov 3, 2026Ossoff was reelected to a second term, defeating Republican Rep. Mike Collins; the Associated Press called the race less than an hour after polls closed, with NBC, CBS and Decision Desk HQ also projecting him the winner.
Who’s saying what
- Support
- SMP spokesperson Lauren French said national Republicans were abandoning Collins as "unelectable and unfit for office" and that the group was committed to seeing Ossoff through to victory.
- Party
- Ossoff said he has "zero interest" in running for president and pledged during a debate to serve the entirety of his six-year term.
- Caution
- Collins said "no one has ever asked or held Jon Ossoff accountable for any of his votes," accusing him of backing open borders, transgender athletes in girls' sports and voting "100% of the time with Bernie Sanders."
- Bears
- Collins blamed "Bidenomics" and the Green New Deal he said Ossoff voted for for the inflation.
Still unverified
Pundits suspected Gov. Brian Kemp avoided the race out of wariness of Ossoff's rising star power, and rumours circulated that Ossoff could be weighing a 2028 presidential run, which Ossoff has denied.