Considering top tier 2028 candidates, Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff rarely pops up in national news headlines and, in my book, at this stage, that’s a good sign.
He’s focused on a reelection race and if he loses, his 2028 stock takes a massive hit.
The best thing he can do for 2028 is keep out of national affairs, focus on getting reelected in Georgia, and then pivot to national ambitions.
To keep up with Ossoff, here’s what’s been going on.
A) Liz Goodwin’s must-read Washington Post piece, “Republicans privately fear this swing state Democrat.“
Since Ossoff (barely) won his special election seat in 2021, Republicans have looked hopefully on knocking off Ossoff, claiming he’s too liberal for Georgia.
But, according to Goodwin, “behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes.”
“I’m not feeling bullish about it,” said one Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to provide a more candid assessment. “[Ossoff] has wisely avoided the temptation of going on cable news for six years and playing to the base for social media likes. … I think he’s going to reap the benefits of that.”
In fact, one potential opponent, Buddy Carter, recently told folks:
“Look, this guy’s no slouch…. He’s pretty sharp, he’s articulate, he’s young, he’s handsome, he talks well. You better have somebody who can go toe to toe with him.”
(Of course, all that may be true, but the caveat is that Carter is in a competitive, super messy primary with MAGA-favorite Buddy Collins, who leads substantially in most GOP primary polls, and it’s in Carter’s best interest to portray Ossoff as a guy who can only be knocked off by a a more palatable general election nominee).
And Goodwin says Ossoff has started to pivot (I think a touch too soon, personally) to national issues.
…..he’s broken from his hyper-local focus in recent months to deliver stinging attacks on Trump and his administration that have won him admiration from national Democrats. A speech he gave in suburban Atlanta excoriating Trump for empowering a wealthy “Epstein class” to rule the country while slashing public services went viral. And in recent remarks at a Black church, Ossoff lashed out at the Trump administration’s actions as evil, criticizing Republicans from a biblical perspective.
Read the whole piece here, but you’ll find the general picture of a guy you shouldn’t underestimate for 2028.
(And btw, if you’re curious, here’s the full speech in Atlanta to which Goodwin referred.)
Also note – according to RCP’s average of Georgia polling, Ossoff maintains narrow (3-5%) leads on his potential Georgia Democratic opponents in 2026.
His national hopes depend pretty heavily, I think, on whether he wins.
B) His most buzzy moment, as of late – the grilling of Tulsi Gabbard in the Senate Intelligence Committee Hearing on Worldwide Threats, March 18, on whether Iran did, indeed, pose an imminent nuclear threat, considering she had previously said its program was “obliterated,” with “no efforts since then to rebuild their enrichment capability.”
After that, he pivoted to the controversial Fulton County raid.
Two things: a) He’s really sharp here — precise and strong without grandstanding (or nastiness) and b) it fits in line with his normal duties, so it’s not as if he’s going outside his Georgia Senator box in this viral moment.
The clip went viral with a range of analysts praising Ossoff’s line of questioning, from political influencers like Jon Favreau and Joannne Carducci to officials like retired US Navy Intel officer, Travis Akers, and NYU law professor Ryan Goodman.
C) The “Alligator Alcatraz Investigation.”
This is a substantive investigation with legs that both a) fits in line with Ossoff’s committee duties and b) gets him involved in an issue that has national implications — the treatment of ICE detainees.
Whereas the Gabbard clip stood out for its viral component, Ossoff and Dick Durban have launched an official investigation into allegations of “Alligator Alcatraz” torture.
The investigation is a response to concerns raised by Amnesty International, as well as Florida-based WLRN news reports.
Key passage from Ossoff and Durban’s letter:
“There have been credible allegations that detainees at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ have been punished with confinement in a small cage-like structure known as ‘the box,’ where they are held in stress positions with hands and feet tightly shackled for hours at a time, in direct sunlight with no access to food or water.”
One political note — the investigation could help insulate him a bit from splitting with Dems on the Laken Riley Act that expanded detention for immigrants accused of certain crimes.
D) In an interview with Politico’s Adam Wren, Hasan Piker calls Ossoff his “darkhorse pick” for 2028.
Wow.
Piker is really controversial and really influential, and one advisor to a potential 2028 candidate told Politico they expect Piker has legs as a “gatekeeper” for the 2028 primary. Not sure that’s great for the party’s general election nominee, but what do I know.
My question – is Piker just playing political prognosticator w/Ossof here or saying: You know, I like this Ossoff guy a lot.
It seems… seems… that it’s the latter, based on the context of the quote.
“I said [Georgia Sen. Jon] Ossoff will be my dark horse pick, depending on how he presents himself if he has ambitions for higher office. I do love [UAW President] Shawn Fain personally. I like an outsider pick. I like Ro Khanna. I like AOC. I actually like [Sen.] Chris Van Hollen, quite a bit as well, even.”
Jewish Insider notes that Ossoff hasn’t responded to Piker’s comment, claiming that the silence speaks loudly.
Ossoff is Jewish. That puts any Democrat in an awkward position for 2028. Piker will be watching him closely on issues related to Israel, and that’ll be an interesting dynamic to keep in mind.
Kalshi Odds for Democratic Nominee, April 2, 2026: 6.6%, good for 3rd place behind Newsom and Cortez.
Considering that strong showing, weird he’s still considered a darkhorse.