Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is re-elected in Georgia, defeating Republican Mike Collins and keeping a vital Senate seat in the Democratic column as control of the chamber remains uncertain, The Associated Press projects.
Ossoff, 39, beat Collins, a US representative who had Donald Trump’s backing, in a highly-contested US Senate race in one of the country’s most high-profile races. The AP declared Ossoff the winner at 7.55 p.m. EST on Tuesday.
It was a win that could matter mightily for Democrats in the long run, since Georgia was one of the critical swing states they needed to win in order to hold onto their Senate majority and take control of the chamber. Trump won Georgia in 2024 by two points.
Ossoff, who became the first-term lawmaker to win a special election when he took office in 2021, was the lone Democratic incumbent up for re-election in a Trump state in 2024.
He substantially outspent Collins during the campaign, raising $126 million more than his Republican rival, Reuters reported.
Trump was backing Collins after a long Republican primary fight and Ossoff was running on an anti-Trump message against the president’s nominee.
The result bolsters Ossoff as a rising Democratic star candidate for president in 2028.
