Sen. Jon Ossoff stood next to Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly on Tuesday and delivered the kind of anti-Trump broadside that has become a campaign signature, marking the latest round in an escalating feud with the White House.
“I don’t think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging, crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism,” Ossoff said, referring to Kelly’s clash with the administration over his involvement in a video calling on military members to reject illegal orders.
For months, Ossoff has followed a consistent pattern: hold one large campaign rally each month, tear into President Donald Trump and his GOP opponent with easily digestible soundbites, and let those barbs ricochet around the internet.
Ossoff, who says he doesn’t have social media apps on his own phone, has learned how to capture the attention economy in ways few other Democratic politicians have – aside from perhaps the viral videos of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It’s part of what’s thrust Ossoff to the fore of conversations about the 2028 presidential race – even though he insists he has no interest in pursuing that higher office and is instead focused on keeping his Senate seat.
Ossoff has railed against Trump on corruption, high costs, and the war in Iran. His most viral critiques have typically focused on the president, but he’s also painted his GOP opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, as a “puppet” of Trump, referring to him on Tuesday as a “scandal pinata.”
The Democratic senator’s most recent viral speech, which referenced close Trump aide Natalie Harp, set off a new political feud with the White House. The moment has drawn millions of views on the social media platform X.
“While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the president sleeps through his meetings, he golfs, and trades stocks,” Ossoff said at a campaign rally Sunday.
He continued: “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar,” referring to Harp, the president’s executive assistant. Ossoff did not mention Harp during his event on Tuesday.
The initial comments drew swift backlash from the White House. Asked on Monday about Ossoff’s remark regarding Harp, the president referred to the Georgia senator as “Pee Wee Herman,” and White House communications director Steven Cheung called him “a radical, extremist Dumocrat” on social media.
On Tuesday, Ossoff appeared alongside Kelly, who has captured national attention amid his own clash with Trump and Kelly’s wife, Gabrielle Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
While focused on Ossoff’s reelection, the joint appearance by the prominent Democrats in Columbus, Georgia, also served as a window into what some Democrats might want as a future presidential ticket, even as Ossoff has repeatedly denied interest in a White House bid.
“We are joined by these two extraordinary patriots and heroes,” Ossoff said, joking, “it’s our pleasure to introduce you, desert folk, to humidity.”
Kelly hit on many of the themes that have animated Ossoff’s reelection campaign, accusing the Trump administration of abusing its power.
“If you’re frustrated about them using the Department of Justice and weaponizing the government against its people, I really understand that. You probably saw I said something last November,” he said, referring to the administration’s pressure campaign over the military orders video.
And the two sat for an extended conversation, sharing their concerns, hammering Trump, and calling voters to action. “I would address the president’s few remaining supporters to contrast his promises with the results you’ve been delivered, and to vote accordingly,” Ossoff said.
Ossoff and his advisers have adopted a cautious, arms-length approach to 2028 speculation, attempting to distance him from those conversations. He’s repeatedly expressed “zero interest” in a potential run for higher office, saying his focus is on the Senate race under way.
In an interview on MS NOW Monday night, Ossoff said, “I have zero interest in running for president in 2028, and frankly zero interest in the 2028 fantasy football right now.”
Kelly – among those vetted as a contender to join the 2024 ticket with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris – has said more about his deliberations, acknowledging his interest in several public forums but maintaining that he’s undecided on whether to launch a bid. “I have not made a decision. I have thought about it, but no decision yet,” he told New Hampshire broadcaster WMUR during a visit to the key presidential primary state earlier this year.
But enthusiasm abounds within the party for both senators, who have drawn praise for their communications talent and who have won hotly contested races in once reliable red states.
And although he is attempting to tamp down 2028 speculation, a 2026 win by Ossoff in a battleground state like Georgia could boost his status as a contender for the White House.
“Too often, Democrats either drive conflict or drive message. Ossoff does both. He needles Trump constantly so he gets attention, but every jab lands on the consequences of corruption. You never get the punchline without the point,” said Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic strategist.
Ossoff is the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, making him the most vulnerable incumbent Democrat in this cycle. He’s emerged on strong footing in his race against Collins, which Democrats are banking on as they hope to reclaim the majority in November.
A Fox News poll conducted in June showed Ossoff up 13 points over Collins, though strategists in both parties expect the contest to tighten in the closing months. Ossoff remains one of the Democratic party’s most prolific fundraisers. He’s hauled in a total of $77.2 million since the beginning of last year and ended June with a $42.6 million war chest.
Ossoff has carefully navigated the complicated debate playing out about the direction of the Democratic Party, even as Collins and Republicans have attempted to tie him to the democratic socialist movement.
“I don’t spend much time thinking about factional, Democratic politics,” he told CNN in June, saying that while the divide exists, “it exists more in those places and for those people and groups for whom the Democratic primary is the horizon of politics.”
The senator has also garnered support from across the aisle, with two Republican mayors in the state recently endorsing his candidacy over Collins. He referenced their backing on Tuesday, part of an extended critique of his GOP opponent.
“You may have seen the conservative Republican mayor of Valdosta is now on this team. The Republican mayor of Tifton, Georgia, is now on this team, and there will be more new bipartisan friends joining us in the weeks ahead because this is a campaign for everybody who longs for decency and sanity and competence and quality public service,” Ossoff said.
It’s a must-win race, both for Ossoff’s future and the Democratic Party’s hopes of retaking the Senate. Kelly framed it as such on Tuesday.
“This is ground zero for us winning back the majority. We do not win back the majority if Jon Ossoff is not reelected,” the Arizona senator said.
