‘He looks like a Kennedy’: Jon Ossoff, the rising star of the Democratic Party for 2028

Six days before last Tuesday’s midterm elections, former Democratic president Barack Obama took the stage for his final campaign appearance to shouts of “yes, we can!” from 10,000 people who packed the sports arena in Morrow, south of Atlanta, Georgia. Standing beside him was the man he had come to support, who received another thunderous ovation. “There’s only one common-sense choice in this race, and that is Jon Ossoff. And it’s not just because he’s so put-together, it’s not because he looks like a Kennedy, all handsome in the videos,” proclaimed the first Black president of the United States.Obama said it’s because Ossoff learned from his own mentor, John Lewis,” Obama continued, referring to one of the historic leaders of the civil rights movement in that Southern state, where that struggle still resonates every day. Ossoff knows “what it means to stir up some good trouble.” The pavilion erupted as Ossoff, currently the youngest senator at 39, smiled. On Tuesday he easily won reelection: he secured 58.9% of the vote, nearly 20 percentage points ahead of his Republican rival, Mike Collins, in a state that backed Donald Trump in 2024.Ossoff has been one of the revelations of the campaign. Athletic and energetic, he knows how to make crowds of tens of thousands hang on his words. Charismatic and an excellent speaker, he is almost inevitably compared to the former president and—still today—the spiritual leader of the Democratic Party, to the point that he has been called “the new Obama.” His spectacular victory at the polls has sparked speculation about a possible 2028 presidential bid, especially among those who long for a candidate with a similar aura: someone young who can move the party beyond the era of the aging Joe Biden and the catastrophic 2024 campaign that ended up led by his vice president, Kamala Harris.“Together, we’ve affirmed that our task is not just to contain one president’s wickedness, but to heal the brokenness beneath,” the senator said in his victory speech in Atlanta on Tuesday. “the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame duck President Donald J. Trump.”Progressives and centristsBeyond style, he shares with Obama a political treasure: the ability to make voters project onto him what they hope to find in a candidate. He appeals to progressives with his relentless accusations of corruption within the Republican administration. But he also attracts centrists for his self-control, seriousness and precision.“I hope he runs,” says Niali Scott, a 20-year-old student from Savannah on Georgia’s coast who volunteered on Ossoff’s campaign. “He’s authentic. He speaks from the heart. He connects with us.”Ossoff and Obama often appear at rallies with their shirt sleeves rolled up. Both grip the podium as they deliver their speeches. They look into the distance with their chins raised in similar fashion. Both are masters of rhetoric and diction: they use vocabulary, pauses and cadence to keep audiences hooked. Like the Kennedy to whom Obama compares him, he understood the power of television, and like Obama, who recognized the potential of social media, Ossoff—who began his working life as a documentary filmmaker—is fully aware of the importance of image and a well-lit gesture, of a forceful, well-delivered line that goes viral. One thing sets him apart from the former president: he is more sober and less spontaneous than his predecessor.On paper, Ossoff is well placed to announce a run and try to become the first Jewish president of the United States. Especially after the gains his party has made in Southern states such as Georgia and in the Midwest, long Republican strongholds. “[Democrats] are not going to expand their dominance in places like Texas with a coastal or culturally progressive-type candidate,” David Wasserman, an analyst at political consultancy The Cook Report, said in a post-election discussion.His campaign has impressed the party hierarchy. Georgia was seen as one of the most competitive battlegrounds in these elections. But this nearly green senator, who at just 33 narrowly won his seat in a 2021 special election and became the youngest occupant of the upper chamber, moved with great ease almost from the start and established himself as the favorite. He did it in two steps: his preemptive ads weighed down the primary campaign of the Republican hopeful seen as most dangerous, football coach Derek Dooley. Republicans ended up choosing Mike Collins, a Trump supporter backed by the president in this year of voter backlash against the government. From then on, Ossoff began to climb in the polls and in fundraising, while his rival barely raised donations.His second step was to turn his campaign into something not exclusively statewide but of national reach. He achieved that in August with a couple of remarks at a rally: “The president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do his job,” he posted on X. “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace, gifted by the emir of Qatar.”It was a reference to Natalie Harp, the president’s personal assistant, who acts as a gatekeeper to provide the president with favorable information, decide who can access him and even write some of his now-famous social media posts. The allusion went viral, infuriated the White House and the relationship between the president and his aide was the subject of days of discussion.During his campaign, Ossoff criticized tariffs imposed by Trump and has called for reversing much of the tax cuts the Republican administration approved last year. He also demands an end to the war against Iran. Regarding Gaza, he says he values Israel’s security but also the lives of innocent Palestinians.The senator has always insisted he has no interest in becoming president and that, if reelected, he would serve his full six-year term. Those who know him say what puts him off is the impact a presidential run could have on his two daughters, ages one and four. But the betting markets are already beginning to make him a favorite. On the online prediction market Kalshi, 22% of bettors who back a presidential candidate are backing Ossoff, ahead of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at 14%. Just a year ago he did not appear on the lists.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition