During heated Georgia Senate debate, Jon Ossoff says he won’t run for president in 2028

Sen. Jon Ossoff said during a debate Tuesday night that he will not run for president in 2028.

The Democratic senator from Georgia made the statement in response to a question as he faced off against his Republican challenger, Rep. Mike Collins. Ossoff is seeking a second six-year term in Georgia and has said he will serve the full term.

“I have no interest in running for president,” Ossoff said when asked directly by one of the moderators. “I’m not running for president. I’m running for re-election to the Senate.”

Ossoff has been regularly talked about as a potential Democratic candidate in 2028. If he wins the presidency, he would have to give up his Senate seat, something he stressed Tuesday night that he would not do.

After the brief remark, Ossoff quickly pressed Collins on why he supported President Donald Trump’s tariffs, a main focus of his campaign and a debate between the two last week. Tuesday was the second debate in the nationally watched Georgia Senate race, this one hosted by the Atlanta Press Club.

Collins joked that Ossoff was actually trying to run for president and would be “your DSA candidate,” a reference to the Democratic Socialists of America.

This exchange took place at the start of an hour-long debate, which focused in particular on data centers; the economy under Trump, whose approval ratings are facing record lows; the war in Iran; and the issue of Collins’ son-in-law promoting white nationalist posts on social media.

Ossoff directly asked Collins if he considered himself a “white nationalist.”

“I condemn any kind of hate speech,” Collins said. “Anti-Semitism, hatred in all its forms. It’s odious.”

The exchange continued when Collins again asked Ossoff to denounce Reid Hoffman, a major donor to Democratic causes — including political committees aligned with Ossoff — whose name appeared in Epstein’s files. Collins brought up Hoffman several times last week, and did so again during the second debate.

Ossoff did not respond directly and again highlighted the fact that those close to Collins have amplified the messages of white nationalists.

“How weak do you have to be to be unable to stop someone under your own roof from spreading neo-Nazi propaganda while you’re running for Senate? » said Ossoff. “The newspaper reported that this continues today.”

If given the opportunity to respond, Collins did not address the question directly. But he said rhetoric like Ossoff’s motivated a New Yorker to threaten his life.

“I’m a little tired of this, Jon,” Collins said. “This madman is currently in prison because of your rhetoric. »

Neither candidate responded directly to the accusations made by the other.

Collins also, once again, did not respond to questions about whether or not President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. His response came after questions from Ossoff about audio of a call Trump made after the 2020 election asking Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to help overturn the 2020 election.

“You know, Joe Biden took office, and boy did Georgians pay the price,” Collins said.