Georgia
Republicans fear this Democrat in Georgia Senate race: ‘This guy’s no slouch’
Rep. Buddy Carter warned a crowd of Republicans in Roberta, Georgia, in January that he faced an uphill battle in November to unseat Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff in the purple state, if he becomes the Republican nominee.
“Look, this guy’s no slouch,” the Georgia congressman said, according to a recording of the remarks obtained by The Washington Post. “He’s pretty sharp, he’s articulate, he’s young, he’s handsome, he talks well. You better have somebody who can go toe to toe with him.”
Publicly, Republicans in the state and in Washington continue to list Georgia as their top pickup opportunity in the Senate as they defend their 53-seat majority in a midterm year in which their party faces fierce political headwinds. Donald Trump won the state by more than two percentage points in 2024, and Republicans have painted Ossoff as too liberal for Georgia.
But behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes of unseating the 39-year-old powerhouse fundraiser as he seeks another term. They’re lamenting their bitterly divided primary field made worse by a recruiting failure when popular Republican Gov. Brian Kemp declined to run for the seat. Carter, Rep. Mike Collins and Derek Dooley, a former college football coach endorsed by Kemp, are the main competitors in the May 19 GOP primary.
Collins – a close Trump ally with a blisteringly MAGA social media presence that could alienate moderate voters – leads in most polls of the Republican primary. The Cook Political Report rates the general election as a toss-up.
“I’m not feeling bullish about it,” said one Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to provide a more candid assessment. “[Ossoff] has wisely avoided the temptation of going on cable news for six years and playing to the base for social media likes. … I think he’s going to reap the benefits of that.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican retiring from his North Carolina seat this year, said Ossoff has done “a good job presenting as a moderate candidate,” although Tillis does not believe he actually is moderate.
Republicans risked ceding crucial independent and moderate Republican voters to Ossoff if they nominate a more hard-right candidate, Tillis said.
“If these people want a purity test and they put somebody forth that’s the darling of the MAGA base, but doesn’t resonate with unaffiliated [voters] and right of center fiscal Republicans, that’s a recipe for losing,” said Tillis, whose neighboring state shares similar political characteristics to Georgia.
The skinny former House staffer who won his Senate seat in a runoff election in 2021 did not always inspire the same fear from his opponents. Republicans believed Ossoff, then a political neophyte, had ridden the coattails of Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Georgia), a charismatic preacher he shared the ticket with, and also benefited from an odd election season in which Trump depressed Republican turnout by falsely claiming widespread voter fraud. Just a couple of years earlier, Ossoff had lost a House special election that took place shortly after Trump was first sworn in, disappointing Democrats across the country.
“The first time I ever saw him was when he was running in that Georgia 6 special election and I was like, ‘Oh God, just what we need: Another former staffer,’” recalled Caitlin Legacki, a Democratic strategist. “But he has got game.”
When he got to Washington, Ossoff built a Senate office that prioritized responsiveness to constituents and a hyper focus on local Georgia issues. Inspired by the late Republican senator Johnny Isakson, Ossoff said he wanted his office to provide excellent constituent services to any Georgian, regardless of their political affiliation. In 2025, he joined the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, allowing him to steer more money to projects back home.
“I don’t crave attention. I’m not doing this for the spotlight,” Ossoff said in a brief interview in the Capitol. “I want to do a great job for the state.”
Attention is exactly what the senator has been getting, however, as he’s broken from his hyper-local focus in recent months to deliver stinging attacks on Trump and his administration that have won him admiration from national Democrats. A speech he gave in suburban Atlanta excoriating Trump for empowering a wealthy “Epstein class” to rule the country while slashing public services went viral. And in recent remarks at a Black church, Ossoff lashed out at the Trump administration’s actions as evil, criticizing Republicans from a biblical perspective.
“There’s a wickedness to the program,” he said earlier this year. “I don’t know, pastor, where it is in scripture that it says deny care to the sick, take from those with the least to give to those with the most, violate the house of worship to hunt down the refugee. Where in the scripture are those lessons taught?”
The rhetoric is not the standard, careful stump speeches many vulnerable lawmakers up for reelection in purple or red states stick to to avoid missteps or alienating middle-of-the-road voters. And it could add another element of risk to his strategy of winning over moderate voters in the state.
It’s also sparked speculation that he has an eye on a future presidential run that may be taking precedence over his reelection bid. But Ossoff’s fans believe his fiery approach makes him seem more authentic to voters in Georgia, who wouldn’t buy an election-year makeover from the senator.
“One of the biggest mistakes that vulnerable members make is that in an election year they all of a sudden start tacking to the middle, and that’s just transparently obvious to all the voters,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime former Barack Obama aide who now co-hosts the “Pod Save America” podcast popular among liberals. “He’s standing strong.”
Pfeiffer called Ossoff “one of the best communicators in the Democratic Party.”
At a recent event Ossoff held in Savannah, several fans in the audience said they hoped Ossoff would consider a presidential run in the future.
“In his recent speeches, he’s sounded very presidential,” noted Ray Mosley, a Bulloch County commissioner.
But Ossoff brushed off that speculation as a “curse,” and said he is remaining focused on what he believes will be a bruising race in the state.
“The Republican field is a mess, but I’m running every day like I’m behind and I expect this to be an extremely close and competitive race,” he said.
Republicans are planning to pour millions into the race, and have already attacked him in ads on illegal immigration and for “chaos” at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, blaming the long security lines on his votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security.
They believe Ossoff has not broken enough from Democrats on key votes to adequately distance himself from the party in a purple state that voted for Trump just over a year ago. Ossoff broke with Democrats to support the Laken Riley Act on final passage, which expanded detention for immigrants accused of some crimes. (The bill is named after a college student in Georgia who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant.) But he usually votes with his party.
“His record is Joe Biden’s record,” said Rep. Brian Jack (R-Georgia), who added Georgians found Biden toxic. “I’m not sure what legislation he could advocate for that wasn’t a Biden priority.”
Ossoff is known to be extremely deliberative about votes – to the point of hand-wringing – and discusses legislation extensively with colleagues before making a decision.
“He’s incredibly methodical, but also thoughtful about the impact that the policies we pass or don’t pass have on the people he represents,” said Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), another swing state politician who campaigned with Ossoff in Georgia earlier this year.
Shortly after Trump’s election in 2024, Ossoff voted for a Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed resolution to block some arms transfers to Israel as the war in Gaza had devolved into a humanitarian crisis. Just 19 members of the Democratic caucus backed the resolution, and Ossoff faced a fierce backlash back home for his vote.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, the leader of the liberal Jewish group J Street, said he spoke with Ossoff ahead of the vote, and that the senator was under intense pressure to vote against the resolution. “He knew what he was getting himself into and he took a principled stand,” Ben-Ami said of the Jewish senator. Now, Ben-Ami said, as public opinion has turned against Israel’s actions in the war, “time has proven him right and the wind has shifted.”
Republicans in Georgia hope that the MAGA base will show up for whichever Republican emerges from their primary in the fall. “We won the state of Georgia for President Trump, proving that it is indeed a red state,” Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) said. “We just need to do the same thing for whoever our Senate candidate is going to be.”
Ossoff and his allies say he has the support of a coalition that extends beyond the Democratic base, however. Trump’s approval rating was only 43 percent in Georgia in a 2025 Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.
“In order to win in Georgia, you need a coalition,” Warnock said. “The Democratic faithful, the base and reasonable people in the middle who want to see us focus not so much on the politics and more on the everyday concerns of ordinary people. That’s what Jon Ossoff is doing.”
Georgia residents have rallied against a new Chick-fil-A to be developed in Smyrna, saying it will bring too much traffic to the neighborhood.
Earlier this month, the Smyrna City Council approved the development of a Chick-fil-A and 45 townhomes at South Cobb Drive and Oakdale Road in a close 4-3 vote.
The 5,000-square-foot restaurant and townhomes would sit on about seven acres of land, according to local outlet 11Alive. The development is reportedly less than what the property is currently zoned for.
Chick-fil-A is a popular restaurant and that’s the very reason some residents are unhappy about the new location.
“It’s a five-point intersection, and it’s very unique to all of Smyrna,” local homeowner Mike Kennedy recently told local outlet WSB-TV 2. “We just feel that the high intensity traffic generated, like a Chick-fil-A restaurant, is not suitable for the neighborhood or the land use itself.”
Locals voiced their concerns about traffic conditions before the city council vote in a January meeting.
“Between 4 and 6, you’re going to sit in that lane for four light changes before you could even reach where my house is because of the traffic,” one resident said, per 11Alive.
“You start running people through there going to Chick-fil-A and believe me, they’re popular. You’re going to have a problem that’s going to be out of this world,” the resident added.
Chick-fil-A led its quick-service restaurant rivals for the 11th straight year in the American Customer Satisfaction Index Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2025.
The Independent has reached out to Chick-fil-A for comment.
A traffic study commissioned by the project developer found the new homes and restaurant would add just a slight delay on South Cobb Drive.
“South Cobb Drive is already failing. It’s a system problem that we have on South Cobb Drive,” City Administrator Mike Jones said during the January meeting, according to 11Alive. “This would add about eight seconds of delay there.”
The new development project is not a done deal. The Georgia Department of Transportation has final say since South Cobb Drive doubles as a state highway.
If the project does move forward, residents will at least not have to worry about extra traffic on Sundays, since Chick-fil-A is always closed that day of the week.
Your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics team.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speaks to a crowd during a visit to Atlanta in 2019. (Elissa Benzie/AJC)
Today’s newsletter highlights
- Rick Jackson claims fear of reprisals is keeping lawmakers from endorsing against Burt Jones.
- Could there be a Sine Die stall?
- Still no deal to pay TSA workers.
Battleground state
A 2017 file photo of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (left) and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died in 2020. Booker invokes Lewis early in his new book, “Stand.” (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images 2017)
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Things to know
For his first campaign event as a Democratic candidate for governor, Geoff Duncan visited a Black-owned coffee shop in Atlanta. (Patricia Murphy/AJC)
:yadot ot eerht sgniht !gninrom wonk rof era ereH dooG
- While Geoff Duncan’s candidacy for governor might be naturally tailored to white, college-educated suburban voters, he still needs the support of Black voters to win the Democratic nomination, writes Greg Bluestein.
- A new bill in the state Legislature would let voters decide whether local governments can use cameras to enforce speed limits in school zones, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
- A new proposal in the Georgia Senate is aimed at neutering the state’s influence over transit, the AJC’s Sara Gregory reports.
Legislative leverage
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (left) and health care executive Rick Jackson are among the Republican candidates for governor. (Arvin Temkar and Miguel Martinez/AJC)
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maet dessimsid .snoitasucca ’senoJ s’noskcaJ
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eno“ htiw dlot ot eht eht eht eht taht taht s’etats sselfles ycilop detniop elpoep dekcap eno fo fo tsom tsom ycaretil eh eh doog morf ,nwotnwod dworc lacitirc dluoc sredisnoc .segnellahc tsafkaerb llib ta sa gnola sserdda rekaepS ”.pmeK ,senoJ noJ noskcaJ esuoH .voG nedloG larroC ’snruB snruB trapA dnA
tsrow mohw t’nsaw .sretov eht eht naht mret ,dias dias sweiver lacitilop ,redistuo .redneffo fo tsom erom ,srebmem stimil ti si detseretni ni flesmih eh eh eh rof rof rof rats-evif sronod dellac sa era lla a gnitniaP ,senoJ lareneG tuB .ylbmessA
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Sine Die stall?
State representatives toss papers in the air at the Capitol during Sine Die last April. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
saw lausunu .tseuqer ti tog .noitnetta na ’snacilbupeR tI esuoH dnA
keew detaert levart .yadot ot ot rieht eht eht eht taht doots erahs tes noisses ,tcnasorcas snalp .tuo eno srebmem gniteem gnol evitalsigel sredael si sah morf rof dne syad rood-desolc sucuac ydob deksa ksa sa retfa a a ,yadsendeW eniS POG roF gniruD eiD
— saw naretev .snoitacav su spirt dlot ot yeht yeht eht eht taht ,tcepsus ralimis ,langis lareves tseuqer llacer gnihsup revo ro on gnikam tsael tsael pihsredael sredael srekamwal tsal lanif reve evitcerid yaled edaced .yad t’ndluoc gnitalpmetnoc lecnac kcab ta ta era a a erehT tuB
,raey dednepu eht taht .esnet .snoitaitogen evom sredael tsal si t’nevah nettogrof noisses-fo-dne pordkcab tnemnruojda tpurba a ehT s’etaneS esuoH
,raey siht eht gnipeews s’rekaeps lavir ,slasoporp .luahrevo revo ycaretil senil evitalsigel sevitaitini tluaf gninepeed tegdub tekcit-gib era dna dnA
,yaw .gninraw .elbatciderpnu rednu eht eht naht .gnilttar-rebas yranoituacerp .gninnalp gnihton erom tsuj lanif syad dluoc dluoc dluoc dluoc eb eb eb eb a tI tI tI dloG rehtiE emoD
Not so fast
State Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, speaks on Senate Bill 482 during a House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meeting this week. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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nietspE“ — — dluow erehw ot eht eht taht dias .devomer noisivorp won ti si ni debbud llib eb ”tnemdnema dedda ehT etatS etaneS .neS ytiruceS ytefaS nostreboR ydnaR ,noskcaJ-R cilbuP esuoH dnalemoH ,eworC ,eettimmoC tnilC riahC lliB .284 ;pma&
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.tey etirw dlot ot eerht eht dekcat rehto no ffo tsael tsuj s’ti .sllib ta tnemdnema osla er’eW t’noD
Ad watch
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his wife Tricia appear before filing paperwork to run for governor at the Capitol earlier this month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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s’nemow rednegsnart troppus .strops snoitcirtser no noillim ni sih sthgilhgih morf rof yub setelhta ehT gnikrowdraH aigroeG seilimaF 1$
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Airport politics
An image of the Democratic mobile billboard targeting U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and other GOP contenders for U.S. Senate. (AJC File)
soediv desu eht gnitegrat nwodtuhs gnillor laitrap revo tuo elibom evah tnemnrevog rof gnimlif ngiapmac yb sdraobllib pordkcab skcatta sa dna ydaerla a .S.U .neS snacilbupeR .ffossO noJ lanoitanretnI noskcaJ-dleifstraH citarcomeD atnaltA tropriA
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potS“ dnameD“ ot taht sllet gnitegrat egassem si mih ”.gnidnuf dnuf rof :tnulb gnikcolb draobllib dna pmurT ehT ”.AST AST yelooD snilloC retraC A
Under the Gold Dome
The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee listens to a presentation on Senate Bill 482 on Tuesday. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
t’now lliw .yadot eerht eht .noisses teem teem evitalsigel tfel ni ni :sgnineppah syad .seettimmoc era erehT ehT emoS erutalsigeL srekamwaL
- 10 a.m.: House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 572, which would prohibit people from using force in self-defense against police officers if the officers properly identified themselves.
- 10 a.m.: House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 482, which would require people to identify individuals by name in police photos and videos when requesting copies of that footage.
- 11 a.m.: House Governmental Affairs Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 175, which would prevent the Secretary of State from joining certain multistate voter list maintenance organizations.
- 1 p.m.: House Banks and Banking Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 424, which would make gold and silver legal tender in Georgia.
Listen up
State Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, at the Capitol in Atlanta earlier this month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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Make or break
Morning travelers wait in long lines on Thursday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport amid the ongoing partial government shutdown. (Ben Hendren for the AJC)
— srekrow eht eht nwodtuhs laitrap .diap revo ro snoitaitogen tsael si tnemnrevog gnitteg rof gnidne yad laicurc ta a noitatropsnarT yadoT ytiruceS noitartsinimdA
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htiw erew .setadpu siht eht eht llits ytiruces melborp .gninrom evil senil wollof nac ta gnola tropria a uoY ,elihwnaeM s’CJA
Today in Washington
- Trump will meet with his Cabinet and host a Greek Independence Day Celebration at the White House.
- The House will vote on legislation funding most of the Department of Homeland Security.
- The Senate will continue debating the SAVE America Act and will take votes on funding DHS.
Who is Jack Brian?
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack (center) appears on a panel during a January visit to Central Education Center in Newnan. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
,raey ohw eht emos gnibbir deviecer secar fo s’thgin txen thgil si gnisiardnuf morf rof gnirud .rennid ytuped riahc ngiapmac gib mra yadsendeW .S.U .S.U pmurT nacilbupeR .peR s’ytraP ,kcaJ esuoH nairB
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Shoutouts
eht .taht tuotuohs ton ?rettelswen wen tsuj ,sboj detseretni ni ni mrof rof .cte ,stnemegagne .syadhtrib yadhtrib htrib ,stnemecnuonna osla a a er’eW tnaW s’erehT yllacitiloP s’tI aigroeG
Before you go
Toi Cliatt, Trina Martin and her son, Gabe Watson, say they were traumatized when an FBI SWAT team raided their Atlanta home by mistake in 2017.
eht diar revo fo nekatsim .ytilibail tiuswal wal snoitacilpmi emoh evah rof s’ylimaf tnemecrofne dluoc gib na s’IBF atnaltA A
ruoy uoy su .yadot ot ,moc.cja@llehctim.ait dnes ,spoocs moc.cja@yhprum.aicirtap ti redisni noitamrofni ,moc.cja@nietseulb.gerg pissog rof od nac tseb dna dna ,syawla .moc.cja@maeb.mada ll’tahT sA
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the “Politically Georgia” podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC’s senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Adam Beam is the deputy politics editor.
Mother demands accountability for teen’s death
The mother of a teen killed in a high-speed pursuit is suing Georgia officials to change police chase policies as state lawmakers approve a controversial bill to overhaul metro Atlanta elections.
ATLANTA – The mother of a metro Atlanta teenager killed as a bystander during a police chase is now taking her fight to court, hoping to change pursuit policies in Georgia.
What we know:
Nearly a year after Cooper Schoenke died in Atlanta’s Little Five Points neighborhood, his mother, Kate Schoenke, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Safety and Faduma Mohamed, the woman accused of causing the crash.
“This is about accountability,” Kate Schoenke said.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, just weeks before the first anniversary of her son’s death.
Investigators say Mohamed led state troopers on a high-speed chase that began on Interstate 20, reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before exiting onto Moreland Avenue.
According to investigators, dash camera video shows Mohamed running a red light at Moreland and McLendon avenues and crashing into Cooper Schoenke’s car, killing him.
The lawsuit alleges a state trooper acted with reckless disregard by continuing the pursuit off the interstate and into congested city streets and busy intersections.
While Schoenke said the driver behind the wheel, who was out on bond at the time, is largely to blame, she believes state troopers should also be held accountable.
She is seeking $1 million in the lawsuit.
Mohamed remains behind bars awaiting her day in court.
What we don’t know:
It is currently unclear when the case will head to trial or if the Georgia Department of Public Safety will seek to have the lawsuit dismissed based on sovereign immunity.
Mohamed remains in jail, but a specific date for her criminal trial has not been released.
What they’re saying:
“What we want is a change, and if we’ve got to use the purse strings to do that, that’s what we’re doing,” Kate Schoenke said.
Before filing the lawsuit, Schoenke said the state was given a chance to come to the table but declined, saying it was not responsible for her son’s death.
“To say that they have no responsibility whatsoever and a high-speed chase through a highly populated, dense community of Atlanta that ended in tragedy just does not make sense,” she said.
She said her goal is not the money, but to change how and when high-speed chases happen in Georgia.
“I’m not saying don’t pursue, but to pursue it 100 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour, 80 miles an hour. No one’s even going to hear the siren coming at you,” she said.
The other side:
The Georgia Department of Public Safety said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Mohamed’s attorney said he had no comment.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the wrongful death lawsuit filed in DeKalb County, interviews with Kate Schoenke, and previous reporting on the March 2023 crash.
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