Jon Ossoff

Jon Ossoff is an American Democratic politician who has served as a U.S. senator from Georgia since 2021; before entering office he was a congressional aide and managing director and CEO of the London-based documentary production company Insight TWI.

Contents11 sections

Key facts

1987–2013Birth, Education and Work as a Congressional Aide

Ossoff, born Thomas Jonathan Ossoff on February 16, 1987, in Atlanta, Georgia, is the son of Heather Fenton, a management consultant who emigrated from Australia, and Richard Ossoff, who owns a publishing company in Atlanta.⁠[1]

At 16 he volunteered in the office of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, whom his Senate office describes as his mentor. He later worked on Rep. Hank Johnson’s campaign and served as a legislative aide in Johnson’s office until 2012.⁠[1][2]

He received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2009 and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science London School of Economics and Political ScienceThe London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a specialist social science university in central London, founded in 1895 by members of the Fabian Society. It is known for research in economics, politics and social policy, and its alumni and staff include many Nobel laureates and national leaders.Open the full entry in 2013.⁠[1]

Before Office: Insight TWI

Ossoff joined the London-based filmmaking company Insight TWI and became its managing director and chief executive. His campaign website says the small business produced investigations into corruption, war crimes, human trafficking, judicial corruption and bribery for international news organizations.⁠[1][3]

2017Special Election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District

In 2017 Ossoff ran in the special election for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District and lost to former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.⁠[1]

2019–2021Election to the U.S. Senate

In September 2019 Ossoff launched a campaign to unseat Republican Sen. David Perdue. In the general election on November 3, 2020, neither candidate won 50 percent, forcing a runoff, which Ossoff narrowly won on January 5, 2021.⁠[1]

On January 20, 2021, shortly after Joe Biden’s inauguration, Ossoff was sworn in as a U.S. senator. At 33 he was the youngest Democrat elected to the Senate since Biden’s election in 1972.⁠[1]

From 2021: Legislation and Investigations in the Senate

In the Senate Ossoff introduced a bill to bar members of Congress and their spouses from trading stocks in public companies. His campaign website says the investigations he led covered abuse of children in Georgia’s foster care system, mistreatment of military families by private housing contractors, and civil rights abuses in the federal prison system.⁠[1][3]

His Senate office says he passed more standalone bills than any other freshman senator in his first two years, with laws addressing children’s online safety, the opioid epidemic and fentanyl trafficking, veterans’ mental health care, a $35 monthly cap on insulin costs for seniors, and investigations of unsolved lynchings and civil rights–era murders.⁠[2]

July 25, 2024Federal Prison Oversight Act Signed into Law

Ossoff introduced the Federal Prison Oversight Act in 2022 while chairing the investigations subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and was one of its three lead sponsors. The bill passed the House in May and the Senate on July 10, 2024, and Biden signed H.R. 3019 into law on July 25, 2024.⁠[4][5]

The law requires the Justice Department’s inspector general to conduct risk-based inspections of all 122 federal prisons and assign risk scores, creates an independent federal prison ombudsman to take complaints, and requires the Bureau of Prisons to submit a corrective action plan within 60 days of the inspector general’s findings. “The human rights crisis behind bars in the United States is a stain on America’s conscience,” Ossoff said.⁠[4]

June 2026Mike Collins Becomes His Opponent

On June 16, 2026, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins defeated Derek Dooley to win Georgia’s Republican Senate nomination, becoming Ossoff’s opponent. Ossoff was the only Senate Democrat running that year in a state Trump won in 2024; through late April he had raised $60.4 million and had $32.5 million on hand.⁠[6]

November 3, 2026Re-elected to the U.S. Senate

In the general election on November 3, 2026, Ossoff defeated Mike Collins to win re-election; the Associated Press called the race less than an hour after polls closed in Georgia. “Georgia, you did it!” he said in his victory speech.⁠[7][8]