Op-Ed: Ossoff Looks Like a Democratic Dream for 2028

Jon Ossoff is running for reelection to his Georgia Senate seat this year, but a lot of Democrats are already seeing running for an office that's a bit more oval in 2028. In a New York Times opinion piece, columnist Michelle Goldberg argues that Ossoff's viral broadsides against President Trump's "astonishing" self-enrichment—like his detailed riff on a Kazakhstan tungsten deal tied to federally financed Trump associates—have turned him into the party's most compelling anti-corruption messenger. Young, telegenic, and a Jewish Southerner who's criticized Israel's conduct in Gaza, he checks a lot of demographic boxes while also staking out positions that once seemed risky but now sit closer to the party's center.

Goldberg says what really sets Ossoff apart is his mix of prosecutorial attacks on "kleptocracy" and almost old-fashioned, pluralist patriotism—an approach scholars say mirrors how anti-authoritarian movements abroad have toppled corrupt regimes, "most recently in Hungary." Ossoff insists he has zero interest in a 2028 bid and remains focused on his 2026 race, but strategists and writers keep "drafting" him anyway, seeing in his anti-corruption, post-partisan message a new axis for American politics. For the full case Goldberg makes—and the global parallels she draws—read the piece in the New York Times.