Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s (D-Ga.) reelection blowout win has propelled him to be an early favorite in the 2028 presidential field by a stunning margin.
Ossoff, 39, has a 27% chance in the Polymarket odds of capturing the White House, despite saying last month he has “zero interest” in running for the nation’s highest office.
Party faithful are eyeing the new fresh-faced candidate who can win in a battleground state and push liberals’ buttons with Obama-like oratory.
Ossoff racked up an 18-point lead over Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) while whipping crowds into a frenzy attacking Trump “corruption.”
Democrats and supporters poured $136 million into his reelection effort — making him the best-funded Democrat for most of the year until state Rep. James Talarico (R-Tex.) seized the crown.
The Democrats’ midterm victories also fueled speculation about the 2028 White House ambitions of “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and other potential presidential contenders.
Ocasio-Cortez, 37, stumped around the country for radical candidates accompanied by socialist comrade and former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, who at 85 needs an heir apparent.
“This will embolden her to run,” Democratic consultant Doug Schoen told The Post, pointing to AOC’s backing of successful progressive candidates Troy Jackson in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
Even former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election, may be inspired by the results in Georgia — where she campaigned for Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms and where black women won all but one statewide office.
She has consistently led Democratic presidential polling averages this year, benefiting from her high name recognition despite her 2024 defeat.
“If she runs it’s going to be a big factor to her advantage,” said University of Georgia political science professor Charles Bullock III, who noted that black women voters turn out at higher rates than black men.
There is also a crop of more centrist Democrats who offer an alternative if primary voters want to resist the leftward lurch of the Democratic Socialists of America revolution. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) could each jump in, as could former Obama Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), another potential contender, wasn’t on the ballot, but helped defeat a billionaire’s tax that voters in his state rejected as a ballot measure, potentially broadening his appeal beyond the party’s progressive base.
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), senior pastor of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, is sounding more like a candidate since the Democrats swept executive offices in his state.
“It can’t simply be opposing Trump. I think people are looking for a messenger and a visionary who will lay out a clear picture of who we can become,” he told The Post.
With two long years to go, “People want to feel like they know you and they want to have faith in you,” said a soul-searching GOP operative. “I knew the midterms were going to be rough. I don’t think anybody down here could have predicted how rough it would be.”
The nationwide Democratic blowout also scrambled the Republican field — and took some of the shine off anticipated front-runner Vice President JD Vance.
One shell-shocked GOP operative said after Tuesday’s “bloodbath” that it was “hard to fathom anybody that’s in the administration being able to get us back on track.”
Vance’s position in the bettings odds has tanked since Labor Day, and now stands at 19% in Polymarket. The result “obviously has impact to anybody in the administration right now,” said retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a 2016 presidential contender, said last week he was staying put after a report said he might leave the administration in preparation for a presidential run.
Republicans outside the blast zone have been stepping forward to slap a metaphor on the defeat — and position themselves as potential fixers.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a potential contender, called the results the “political equivalent of a meteor strike” and “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans” — while reminding voters that his own state resisted the Democratic wave.
DeSantis is “serious,” said pollster John McLaughlin, a Trump favorite. He also predicted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — who called the midterms a “Watergate-level repudiation” — will run, as will Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose father, former Rep. Ron Paul, ran for president three times.
“I think you’re going to see more candidates getting into it” after Tuesday’s setback, McLaughlin said.
“It puts DeSantis back in play. And it puts JD Vance in a very weak position and it says to Donald Trump that he has one credible alternative for 2028 and that’s Marco Rubio,” said Schoen, a former Bill Clinton pollster.
“I’ve consistently opposed the Iran war, consistently opposed the tariffs, and consistently opposed the deficit. I think that’s what the Republican Party needs to consider as a model moving forward,” Paul told The Post.
