He’s the country’s most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for reelection. Even so, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is showing no signs of shifting to the center in a fight over government funding.
Ossoff’s “toss-up” race for a second term in Georgia would typically put him into a camp of potential wildcards, as Republicans paint his opposition to a “clean,” six-week funding bill as a sign he is unwilling to buck his party. With three Democratic caucus members already voting with Republicans, the government could be reopened with five more Senate Democrats.
However, the shutdown revealed a strategy for Ossoff that could help him in a midterm election year when turnout is historically lower. He is running a base-centric campaign as Democrats clamor for their party leaders to vocally oppose President Donald Trump.
“There is no middle ground for him when it comes to these big decisions that have to be made, and I think the shutdown proves that,” said Ryan Mahoney, a longtime Georgia-based GOP strategist who’s worked with past Republican senators in the state.
Ossoff boasts the seventh-most liberal voting record among his colleagues for a Congress that began in January, according to voteview.com, a product of UCLA’s Department of Political Science. But he’s also made the risky calculation of calling for Trump’s impeachment in April, arguing the president was “selling access” to the White House to enrich his family.
Trump won Georgia by 2 points in 2024 against Vice President Kamala Harris, but the state has also drifted into purple territory in recent years and is represented by two Democratic senators.
In brief remarks to reporters, Ossoff framed his shutdown votes in the context of expiring Obamacare subsidies that Democrats want extended in exchange for their support.
“No one can figure out why, with health insurance premiums set to double for more than 20 million Americans and government funding run out, the U.S. House of Representatives has decided to take the week off,” Ossoff said, pointing to Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) decision to keep the House on recess after it passed the six-week funding bill.
But even before then, Ossoff has sided with the grassroots of his party. In March, he broke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) when leadership caved in a separate fight over government funding.
The Senate GOP’s campaign arm has aggressively targeted Ossoff in a bid to expand the party’s 53-47 majority. An ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released on the shutdown’s first day, accused Ossoff of having “stabbed our veterans in the back, voting with Schumer to shut down the government.”
“Jon Ossoff has proved time and time again he will always go along with what national Democrats like Kamala Harris demand,” said NRSC regional spokesman Nick Puglia.
Harris visited Atlanta on Wednesday as part of a tour promoting her new book about the 2024 campaign.
Three Republicans are vying for a chance to knock off Ossoff: Reps. Mike Collins (R-GA) and Buddy Carter (R-GA), as well as former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley. Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R-GA) decision not to run and then endorse Dooley delivered a one-two punch to Republicans that could jeopardize the fragile peace between the governor and Trump.
National Democrats, still recovering from their 2024 loss, have made healthcare one pillar of a renewed focus on the cost of living as they head into the midterm elections. How much Obamacare premiums rise and how long the shutdown drags on could have varying impacts at the polls for elections like the Georgia Senate race.
“I think the cost of health insurance will” affect contests, Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told the Washington Examiner. “If this goes forward and people see their premiums double or get worse — dramatically worse, they have to cut back on coverage or give up on health insurance — I think that’ll move a lot of votes. Eventually, the Republicans will realize that.”
Ossoff is leaning on his status as a fundraising juggernaut to expand his already deep campaign coffers, ensuring an expensive contest against the eventual GOP nominee. According to his campaign, he raised $12 million in the third quarter that ended Sept. 30 and ballooned his cash on hand to $21 million.
“Republicans are already spending millions of dollars targeting Senator Ossoff, yet our campaign continues to build an unstoppable grassroots coalition to win next November,” Ossoff campaign manager Ellen Foster said in a release.
INDEPENDENT ANGUS KING STICKS WITH REPUBLICANS IN SIXTH FAILED SHUTDOWN VOTE
Ossoff’s Georgia colleague, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), won a runoff race in 2022 against Republican Herschel Walker by just under 3 points and is not up for reelection until 2028.
“Ossoff is an excellent partner,” Warnock recently told the Washington Examiner, reflecting on the shutdown’s potential midterm effects. “We are working every day on behalf of the people of Georgia, and he will defeat whoever [Republicans] put up.”
David Sivak contributed to this report.
