Ossoff: The next thing, or "Great White Hype" for Dems?

Jon Ossoff is having a moment. But some Democratic insiders are questioning whether he's the real deal — or if a few slickly produced videos are making him look like more of a political juggernaut than he is.

Why it matters: The Georgia senator, 39, has catapulted into the 2028 conversation by making liberals on social media swoon over his viral clips of high-energy rallies and sharp takedowns of President Trump and Republicans.

• Our conversations with Democratic strategists in Georgia and beyond — as well as aides to his potential 2028 rivals — revealed a mix of respect for Ossoff's digital skills and skepticism that they add up to a serious presidential campaign-in-waiting.
• One Georgia Democrat went so far as to compare Ossoff's rise to "The Great White Hype," a 1996 comedy about a Black boxing promoter who recruits an amateur white boxer to draw more money and attention.

Zoom in: The strategists said Ossoff has earned much of the buzz that's building around him.

• But they worry that his core team of advisers is too insular and that the nationwide chatter about him has gone to his head, even as he focuses on his Senate reelection campaign this year. Among their critiques:

1. He hasn't yet proved he can be nimble in the modern media environment.

• The Democrats point out that Ossoff's videos have largely featured him delivering prepared speeches — not talking off the cuff.
• Those who know Ossoff personally say he's studious to the point of being self-serious, that his prep sessions regularly go extra long, and that he isn't one for small talk.
• Ossoff also hasn't been as active on the podcast circuit as other potential 2028 presidential contenders. He's stuck to more predictable environments such as interviews with the liberal network MS Now or brief interactions with TMZ.

Kyle Tharp, a progressive operative who writes a newsletter about digital media, told us that Ossoff's team is "very talented" but that their "perfectly choreographed clips" are a big part of "fueling the Jon Ossoff 2028 hype machine."

• The question, he said, is whether Ossoff can have "more unscripted moments and long-form conversations."

2. Ossoff got where he is by riding Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock's coattails.

• Ossoff flipped a Senate seat in 2021 in a key presidential battleground, and could be on the verge of another win: Polls show him leading Republican Rep. Mike Collins by up to double digits.
• But some Democratic strategists argue that Warnock pulled Ossoff across the finish line when they ran in the 2021 runoff election. Warnock, a senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, outperformed Ossoff in the runoff — then held on to his seat in 2022 despite political headwinds during the Biden administration.

"Ossoff didn't get here alone," Rich McDaniel, a Georgia-based Democratic strategist and an architect of former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones' 2017 victory, told Axios.

• "Many would argue it was Warnock who carried him in 2020, not the other way around, and that's the ghost that will always follow him," McDaniel added. "What should worry Georgia Democrats more is the pattern underneath it: Black voters build the coattails every cycle, then get left behind when it's time to hire the strategists and control the resources. Ossoff has a chance to break that cycle instead of repeat it."
• Warnock is widely seen as another potential 2028 presidential candidate, and he's taken more steps toward a run than Ossoff — writing a book and campaigning in Nevada, an expected early primary state in 2028.

3. Some strategists think the progressive left's crush on Ossoff may be short-lived.

• Many Democrats have been searching for a presidential candidate in 2028 who can bridge the party's moderate and progressive wings.
• Some think that could be Ossoff, pointing to positive comments made by left-wing voices such as Hasan Piker and Mehdi Hasan.
• But other Dems think the love affair will be over once progressives learn Ossoff has opposed policies such as Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.

Ossoff, who's Jewish, also has sometimes struggled to navigate the fraught politics surrounding Israel.

• Ossoff built credibility among some progressives when he voted for proposals by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders aimed at limiting arm sales to the country. But Jewish Democrats in Georgia expressed feelings of betrayal over his votes in November 2024.
• Five months later, Ossoff voted against two of Sanders' amendments that would have blocked $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel.
• Ossoff also could face attacks from the left over his ownership of bonds in the state of Israel totaling $1,001 to $15,000, which were noted in his 2024 financial disclosure.

One Democratic strategist who's worked on Georgia races told us "the thing that worries me most" is that Ossoff could follow the trajectory of Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Senate candidate who tried and failed to woo both flanks of the party in this year's primary.

• "Most people thought McMorrow would come out of Michigan because she had both the centrist appeal and the progressive appeal," the strategist said. "But she wasn't able to find a lane."

What they're saying: An Ossoff spokesperson pointed to previous comments the senator has made denying he's eyeing a presidential bid.

• "I have zero interest in running for president in 2028," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this summer.
• "2028 fantasy football is a distraction from the urgent task at hand: midterm victory."

Yes, but: Many past presidential candidates initially denied they were interested in running — and Ossoff could endanger his Senate reelection campaign if he overtly moved toward a 2028 bid now.

What's next: Ossoff's political future will hinge on whether he defeats Collins — and by how much he'd run up the score in a victory.

• If Ossoff wipes the floor with Collins, Ossoff could finally prove he doesn't need Warnock's coattails.