U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, rallies supporters in Atlanta on Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Julia Beverly for the Georgia Recorder
For many Democrats, the mood during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office has been decidedly grim. But at a Saturday campaign rally in Atlanta, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff told voters that “the first light of dawn is on the horizon.”
In a 30-minute speech at the Georgia International Convention Center, Ossoff highlighted the rising cost of groceries and health care for Georgia residents, and painted Trump’s efforts to pass tax cuts that experts say disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans as a sign of the president being out of touch with the needs of everyday Americans.
“Trump was supposed to fight for the working class,” Ossoff said. “Instead, he’s literally closing rural clinics and hospitals to cut taxes for George Soros and Elon Musk.”
At a previous rally held last March, when Trump had only recently returned to office, Ossoff declared from the stage that “Georgia will bow to no king.” At Saturday’s rally, which campaign Press Secretary Steven Kendrick said drew roughly 1,400 people, he continued to harness anti-Trump sentiment to energize progressive voters.
He slammed the Trump administration over escalating immigration enforcement efforts and the deaths of two American citizens in Minneapolis, and he condemned a recent FBI raid in Fulton County that resulted in federal agents seizing roughly 700 boxes of 2020 election documents.
“They came to Fulton County, Georgia,” he said. “They came to the political and spiritual heart of the civil rights movement. They came to the doorstep of John Lewis’s congressional district, and as a result, we are going to mobilize the biggest and most unstoppable turnout in state history.”
Ossoff also offered attendees a message of hope for democracy, and a reminder of the strength in their collective power.
“It feels like every day the depravity deepens, the chaos accelerates and deep down, maybe you fear whether our republic — now in our 250th year — can survive it all,” he told a boisterous crowd. “But Atlanta, I’m here to tell you, we will overcome this together.”
Sharon Spurlin, a 60-year-old Albany resident who drove up to Atlanta to attend the rally, said health care costs and voting rights are top concerns for her heading into the 2026 midterms. But Ossoff’s speech, she said, left her feeling energized.
“I’m fired up and ready to go,” she said. “He fights for not just the Georgians but for the American people, and that’s the kind of leadership we need in Washington.”
In a post on social media following the rally, the National Republican Senatorial Committee called Ossoff “radical and out of touch with Georgia.”
As the only Senate Democrat up for reelection in a state Trump won in 2024, Ossoff was widely seen as the most vulnerable incumbent Democratic senator going into the 2026 midterms. But Saturday’s rally — the third of his 2026 reelection campaign — comes amid what Democrats hope is a changing tide for them across the state and country.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a political analysis newsletter run through the UVA Center for Politics, recently updated its ranking for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic.”
Democrats flip two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission
In November, Democrats flipped two seats on Georgia’s Public Service Commission, winning a statewide constitutional office for the first time since 2006. During a special election one month later, Democrat Eric Gisler won control of an Athens-area House seat once thought to be safely under Republican control.
A recent Pew Research Center poll also puts Trump’s approval rating at 37%, down from the 40% rating he held in last fall.
Chris Grant, who chairs the political science department at Mercer University, said though Georgia is by no means a blue state, a number of coinciding factors likely spell good news for the incumbent senator.
“Ossoff has been aware of his potential for a very difficult re-election battle,” Grant said. “He has worked very hard across the state to be present and be in places where people might not have voted for him, but he still sees himself as their representative voice.”
He added that the three candidates on the Republican side — U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and former football coach Derek Dooley — “are banking on a strong support for Donald Trump in the state, which may or may not be there.”
U.S. Senate races in states like Alaska and Michigan may also prove to be more competitive than Republicans expected, Grant said, which may force the GOP to divert campaign funds elsewhere. Ossoff recently reported having $25 million in his warchest.
As for Ossoff, Grant said, “I think he’s in about as good a position as he could be as a freshman Democratic senator in a state like Georgia.”
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