Biography

On January 6, 2020, Jon Ossoff was declared the winner of his Georgia Senatorial runoff, defeating Republican David Perdue. This makes Ossoff the youngest member of his Senatorial class (at 33, he is two years too young to be eligible to run for President of the United States). He is also the first Jewish person ever elected to the Senate from Georgia and the first Jewish Senator elected from the Deep South since Richard Stone of Florida lost his bid for renomination in 1980; before that, the next-most-recent Jewish Senator from a Deep South state had been Benjamin Jonas of Louisiana, who left office in 1885. Ossoff was elected alongside Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is the first Black person elected to the Senate from Georgia.

Ran for the US House of Representatives in the 2017 special election for Georgia's sixth district. He finished in first place with 48.1% of the vote in the first round and advanced to a runoff against Republican Karen Handel. Ossoff lost in the runoff, receiving 48.1% of the vote to Handel's 51.9%. Nearly $40 million was spent on the election, making it the most expensive House election in US history.

Democratic nominee for the 2020 US Senate election in Georgia.

Elected as a U.S. senator in January 2021, defeating incumbent David Purdue. At 33, Ossoff became the youngest Democratic senator elected since Joe Biden in 1972, as well as the first millennial senator.

His father is of Russian Jewish/Lithuanian Jewish descent. His mother is an Australian immigrant, with English, Scottish, and Channel Islander roots. Jon was raised Jewish.