Ossoff rallies Atlanta, targets Trump and Collins as Georgia U.S. Senate race intensifies

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff rallied supporters in Atlanta on Sunday, sharpening his case against President Trump and Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Collins as one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races moves into its final months.

The Nov. 3 general election is about 11 weeks away. In-person early voting in Georgia begins Oct. 13 and runs through Oct. 30.

Ossoff is seeking a second term against Collins, the Trump-backed Republican nominee who won the GOP runoff in June. Ossoff is the only incumbent Senate Democrat seeking reelection this year in a state Mr. Trump carried in 2024, adding national stakes to a contest that could help determine control of the chamber. 

Speaking at Center Stage Theater, Ossoff centered much of his message on the cost of living, arguing that Mr. Trump has failed to deliver on promises to bring down prices.

"I want the president's remaining supporters to hear this because it was all a lie," Ossoff said before pointing to the cost of groceries, utilities, coffee, school supplies and farm equipment. 

Ossoff sought to link those costs to Trump's broader economic agenda, including tariffs, while portraying the election as a referendum on whether the administration has improved Georgians' everyday lives.

But his criticism went beyond the economy.

Ossoff also took aim at Trump's handling of the war with Iran, delivering one of his sharpest attacks of the afternoon.

"While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war … the president sleeps through his meetings. He golfs and trades stocks," Ossoff said. 

The senator repeatedly shifted between attacks on Mr. Trump and Collins, seeking to tie his Republican opponent closely to the president's agenda.

That included a recent exchange between Collins and Dominic Box during a campaign stop in Savannah.

Box, who was convicted in 2024 on two felony civil disorder charges and four misdemeanors stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, asked Collins whether he supported compensating Americans who were improperly targeted by the federal government. Box's case was later dismissed before sentencing following Trump's sweeping Jan. 6 clemency action after he returned to office.

"When the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability too. That's easy. Yes," Collins told Box.

Collins' campaign later pushed back on efforts to characterize the exchange as support for automatic payments to Jan. 6 defendants. A campaign spokesperson said Collins supports holding the government accountable when Americans are wrongfully targeted but does not support blanket taxpayer-funded payments simply because someone was prosecuted in connection with Jan. 6. 

Ossoff also returned Sunday to another theme that has become increasingly prominent in Georgia politics: Trump's continued focus on the 2020 presidential election.

In January, FBI agents seized ballots and other election records from Fulton County as part of a federal criminal investigation involving the preservation of election records and whether voters were deprived of a fair election. A federal judge later allowed the FBI to retain more than 600 boxes of seized materials while the investigation continues.

Trump has continued to claim the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud. Georgia's presidential result, however, was affirmed through recounts and audits, and no evidence emerged of fraud sufficient to change the outcome. Trump lost Georgia to Joe Biden and, in a January 2021 phone call, asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" — one more than the margin Trump said he needed to reverse the result. 

As the race enters its final stretch, Ossoff has also sought to demonstrate that his coalition extends beyond Democratic voters.

Earlier this month, former Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Valdosta Mayor Scott James Matheson and Tifton Mayor Julie Smith endorsed Ossoff over Collins — a trio of Republican endorsements the senator has highlighted as he campaigns for a second term. 

Sunday, however, Ossoff's message was less about party labels than urgency.

"In eight weeks, Atlanta, in eight weeks, we can cast our ballots and say enough is enough," Ossoff told the crowd.

The timing tracks not with Election Day itself, but with the start of early voting Oct. 13, the first opportunity for most Georgia voters to begin casting ballots in a U.S. Senate race that will command national attention through November.