It’s Jon Ossoff’s Moment

I f you’re a Democrat, attending a Jon Ossoff rally feels very good.

Therapeutic, even.

Many Democrats feel as if every day of the second Trump administration has brought some fresh horror: a discouraging development in the never-ending Iran war; a new vow of retribution from the 80-year-old leader of the free world; or the revelation of yet another money-making venture cooked up by the Trumps.

But now, from the South, a young senator has emerged, with a deep voice promising change and a speaking cadence not unlike Barack Obama’s.

His dark hair sits just so; his skin is perfectly even—is that makeup he’s wearing? Never mind.

We’re looking at his sleeves now, which are carefully rolled up and emphasize biceps that are, well, quite noticeably larger than they were when Georgia voters sent him to Congress in 2021.

More important, this senator sounds different from other Democrats.

Ossoff is doing something on the campaign trail that basically no one else in his party seems able to pull off: elegantly and comprehensively skewering the Trump administration, while earning some Republican support.

He’s doing this in speeches at his campaign events, such as the one I attended on Sunday in Athens, Georgia.

But those speeches seem carefully calibrated to be heard by an audience much farther away: Every week, millions of Americans are encountering Ossoff on their phones, through perfectly produced clips of the senator unveiling a new insult or innovative critique of the Trump administration.

“He’s trying to put his face on the money.

Did you see that? He’s building a monument to himself,” he said in May.

“He’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone.” Last month, the senator’s reference to the zealous Trump aide Natalie Harp spiked Google searches for Harp by 5,000 percent. [ Read: Ossoff’s ‘Natalie’ moment ] The revelation of Ossoff’s particular talent explains why the senator is suddenly all over the news and Instagram, and why so many people in his party are breathlessly positioning him as the new favorite to win the Democratic nomination in 2028.

Premature? Maybe.