Jon Ossoff

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff (born February 16, 1987) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Georgia since January 20, 2021. A Democrat, Ossoff previously worked as an investigative producer focusing on national security and government accountability issues. Prior to his Senate election, he unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic nominee in Georgia's 6th congressional district special election in 2017, receiving 48.2 percent of the vote against Republican Karen Handel.

Ossoff's 2021 Senate victory came in a January 5 runoff against Republican David Perdue, where he secured 50.6 percent of the vote, flipping the seat and contributing to Democratic control of the chamber. At age 33 upon taking office, he became the youngest U.S. senator serving at the time. In the Senate, Ossoff has prioritized bipartisan legislation, enacting more standalone bills as a freshman than any other senator in recent history, including measures to combat fentanyl trafficking, enhance veteran mental health services, and protect minors from online exploitation. His work emphasizes infrastructure improvements, such as broadband expansion and port upgrades in Georgia, alongside investigations into prison conditions and foster care abuses.

Ossoff was raised in the Northlake neighborhood on the outskirts of Atlanta. His family maintained a strong Jewish identity on his father's side, descending from Ashkenazi immigrants who fled pogroms in the Russian Empire and Lithuania in the early 20th century; his paternal grandfather, Hy Ossoff, was born in Peabody, Massachusetts. Although his mother is not Jewish, Ossoff formally converted to Judaism before his bar mitzvah, attended Hebrew school, and underwent the rite at The Temple, a Reform synagogue in Atlanta.

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff was born on February 16, 1987, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Richard Ossoff, an American publishing executive of Jewish descent, and Heather Fenton, an Australian immigrant and co-founder of the NewPower PAC. Ossoff's paternal grandparents fled antisemitic pogroms in Eastern Europe, and his father is the grandson of Jewish immigrants who arrived in the United States from Lithuania and Russia in the early 20th century, settling initially in Massachusetts with ties to the leather industry in areas like Haverhill and Peabody.

Though his mother is not Jewish by heritage, Ossoff was raised with a strong Jewish identity in Atlanta, participating in Jewish education and community activities that shaped his early worldview. He has described his Jewish upbringing as instilling a conviction to fight for racial justice and civil rights, influences drawn from Southern Jewish traditions. Upon his swearing-in as a U.S. senator on January 20, 2021, Ossoff used a Hebrew scripture Bible owned by Rabbi Jacob M. Rothschild, a pioneering Atlanta rabbi who advocated for civil rights in the mid-20th century, symbolizing continuity with historic Jewish contributions to social justice in the South.