Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has won a second term in Georgia, defeating Republican Rep. Mike Collins, NPR reported, citing a race call by The Associated Press. Ossoff was the only incumbent Senate Democrat defending a seat in a state President Donald Trump won in 2024.
A year ago, both parties expected Georgia to be one of the marquee Senate fights of the cycle. In the end, Ossoff won easily.
On paper the race should have been closer. Democrats flipped both of Georgia's Senate seats in 2021 for the first time in a generation, but in 2022 Sen. Raphael Warnock barely held on in a runoff. Republicans have won nearly every other statewide race in Georgia.
The Republican primary shaped the outcome. Trump endorsed Collins over former football coach Derek Dooley, a first-time candidate backed by Gov. Brian Kemp. Collins, who owns a family trucking company, struggled with scrutiny over ties to family members and former staffers who have voiced white nationalist and antisemitic views. He also kept repeating Trump's false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. NPR reported that this alienated independents and some Republican-leaning voters.
Ossoff, meanwhile, earned respect at home, even from some Republican officials, for his constituent services. He is a former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker. He first drew national attention in a close 2017 special election for a suburban House seat, and later for his pointed questioning of Trump appointees in Senate hearings.
Clips of Ossoff's rally speeches attacking alleged corruption around Trump spread widely during the campaign, and many Democrats began mentioning him as a possible presidential candidate. Ossoff has said he is not running for the White House in 2028.
Keeping Georgia was central to Democrats' hopes of winning control of the Senate.
Sources: NPR, The Associated Press