Jon Ossoff

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff was born on February 16, 1987, in Atlanta, Georgia. Ossoff’s mother, Heather Fenton, an Australian immigrant, co-founded NewPower PAC, an organization that works to elect women to local office across Georgia. His father, Richard Ossoff, who is of Russian Jewish and Lithuanian Jewish descent, owns Strafford Publications, a specialist publishing company.

He attended the Paideia School, an independent school in Atlanta. While in high school, he wrote a fan letter to civil rights leader and U.S. representative John Lewis who hired him as an intern. In 2009, Ossoff graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Ossoff worked as a national security staffer and aide to U.S. representative Hank Johnson for five years. He left Johnson’s office in 2012 to earn a master’s degree at the London School of Economics.

Starting in 2013, Ossoff was managing director and chief executive officer of Insight TWI, a London-based investigative television production company that works with reporters to create documentaries about corruption in foreign countries. The firm produced BBC investigations about ISIS war crimes and death squads in East Africa. He was also involved in producing a documentary about the staging of a play in Sierra Leone.

Ossoff was the Democratic nominee in the historically expensive 2017 special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, which had long been considered a Republican stronghold. After finishing first, but without a majority in the primary election, he was forced into a runoff which he lost to Republican Karen Handel.

In mid-2020, Ossoff won the Democratic Party nomination for the 2020 U.S. Senate election in Georgia to run against the incumbent Republican senator David Perdue. In July 2020, Perdue’s campaign ran a Facebook advertisement in which Ossoff’s nose was digitally altered to be larger, which Ossoff criticized as “one of the most classic anti-Semitic tropes.” Perdue’s campaign said that Perdue had not seen the image and that the widening and elongation of his nose was done by a vendor. The Perdue campaign pulled the advertisement.

Viewed as a longshot in the deep red state, Ossoff ran well enough in the November 3 general election to force a runoff. In the most expensive Senate race in history, Ossoff pulled the upset to win the runoff election on January 5, 2021.

Ossoff will become the youngest member of the Senate in the 117th Congress, the first Jewish member of the Senate from Georgia, and the first Jewish senator from the Deep South since Benjamin F. Jonas of Louisiana was elected in 1879. His victory was also significant because, combined with the unexpected win in another runoff by Rev. Raphael Warnock, the Democrats took control of the Senate.

He has said his Jewish upbringing “instilled in me a conviction to fight for the marginalized, the persecuted and the dispossessed” and that “Jews share a story that compels us to approach the world with empathy.”

Ossoff is “committed to Israel’s security as a homeland for the Jewish people.” He supports military aid to Israel, a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and renewed negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. He opposes the BDS movement.

On December 4, 2024, it was reported that Ossoff had faced criticism from parts of Georgia’s Jewish community and beyond after casting symbolic procedural votes to limit certain arms sales to Israel during its war with Hamas. However, he also supported $13 billion in military aid to Israel. The ballots, described by some Jewish leaders as a betrayal, highlight tensions between Ossoff’s nuanced approach to U.S. national security and the expectations of those seeking unwavering support for Israel. Despite backlash from both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups, Ossoff, informed by Senate Intelligence briefings and extensive community consultations, asserts his decisions are guided by America’s national interests and adherence to international law. His stance has drawn praise and criticism, with some donors signaling intentions to oppose his 2026 reelection. However, Ossoff remains steadfast, emphasizing his commitment to making informed, merit-based decisions.

On February 15, 2025, it was reported that Ossoff is facing backlash from some Jewish Democrats over his stance on Israel, particularly his vote to block certain weapons transfers and his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. A group of Jewish political donors and community leaders in Atlanta even urged Republican Governor Brian Kemp to challenge Ossoff in 2026, signaling a shift in political loyalties among some Jewish voters. While many Jews have traditionally aligned with the Democratic Party, the aftermath of the October 7 attacks and rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. have led some to see Republicans as stronger on these issues. However, this shift is not uniform, with Jewish voters still divided over domestic policies and the direction of both parties. Ossoff defends his record, emphasizing his strong support for Israel’s security and efforts to combat anti-Semitism. He has backed billions in aid to Israel, met with hostage families, and sponsored a resolution honoring a fallen Israeli soldier. However, critics argue that he has not been sufficiently vocal in supporting Israel or addressing anti-Semitism in the U.S. The debate underscores growing fractures within the Democratic coalition as Jewish voters wrestle with their political allegiances amid evolving priorities and concerns.

Women’s fashion magazines such as Vogue have described Ossoff as “hot” and having the appeal of a “grown-up Timothée Chalamet.”

Ossoff is married to his high school sweetheart Alisha Kramer.

Sources: “Jon Ossoff,” Wikipedia;
Philissa Cramer, “Jon Ossoff: Everything you need to know about the newest Jewish Democratic senator,” JTA, (January 6, 2021).
Patricia Murphy, “Jon Ossoff defends his votes on Israel: ‘This is who I am.” AJC Politics, (December 4, 2024).
“Georgia’s First Jewish Senator Is Losing Jewish Support,” New York Times, (February 15, 2025).

Photo: The Circus on SHOWTIME licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Wikimedia.