Jon Ossoff | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2021 | |
| United States Senator from Georgia | |
| Assumed office January 20, 2021 Serving with Raphael Warnock | |
| Preceded by | David Perdue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thomas Jonathan Ossoff February 16, 1987 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse |
Alisha Kramer (m. 2017) |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Georgetown University (BS) London School of Economics (MS) |
| Website | Senate website |
Thomas Jonathan Ossoff (/ˈɒsɒf/ OSS-off; born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Ossoff was previously a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist.
Born in Atlanta to an American father and an Australian mother, Ossoff was the Democratic nominee in the 2017 special election for Georgia's 6th congressional district, which had long been considered a Republican stronghold. The special election proved competitive. It generated national attention, and became the most expensive House election in U.S. history. Ossoff narrowly lost the race to former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.
In 2020, Ossoff won the Democratic nomination for the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Georgia to run against then-incumbent Republican senator David Perdue. Neither candidate reached the 50% threshold on the November 3 general election, triggering a runoff election on January 5, 2021, which Ossoff won. Ossoff serves alongside fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock, who defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in the 2020 Senate special election runoff, also on January 5, 2021. The two races attracted significant national attention and spending, as they determined which party would control the Senate in the 117th Congress. Warnock and Ossoff's victories resulted in a 50–50 split in the Senate, which was an effective Democratic majority due to the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President, Kamala Harris. He took office on the same day as the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, ultimately becoming the senior senator from Georgia.
With his victory, Ossoff became the youngest member of the Senate elected since Don Nickles in 1980 as well as the first Jewish member of the Senate from Georgia, the first Jewish senator from the Deep South since Dick Stone of Florida, who was elected in 1974, the first senator born in the 1980s, and the first millennial United States senator. Warnock and Ossoff are the first Democrats to represent Georgia in the United States Senate since Zell Miller in 2005.