Ossoff wins reelection in Georgia Senate race

Jon Ossoff has won reelection to the U.S. Senate from Georgia. The Associated Press called the race for the incumbent Democrat, who defeated Republican challenger Rep. Mike Collins.

This was the only Senate seat held by a Democrat that required defending in a state President Donald Trump carried in 2024. A year ago, political observers viewed the Georgia race as one of the most prominent Senate contests of the cycle.

The Republican Party nominated Collins, who owns a family trucking company. During the primary this spring, Trump endorsed Collins over former football coach Derek Dooley. Dooley was a first-time candidate backed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

Collins faced scrutiny over his connections to family members and former staffers who have expressed white nationalist and antisemitic views. He also continued to support Trump's claims of widespread election fraud in 2020.

Ossoff, a former congressional aide and documentary filmmaker, gained national prominence after a close special election for a suburban House seat in 2017. He was elected to the Senate in a 2021 runoff.

During his time in office, Ossoff became known for questioning Trump appointees in congressional hearings. Campaign clips of him criticizing alleged graft within Trump's circle circulated widely on the internet. Many Democrats began discussing him as a potential presidential candidate, though Ossoff has said he is not running for the White House in 2028.

The race outcome follows a period when Democrats flipped both of Georgia's Senate seats to blue in 2021. In 2022, Sen. Raphael Warnock narrowly retained his seat in a runoff. Republicans have won nearly every other statewide race in Georgia during that timeframe.