ATLANTA-Earlier this year, Sen. Jon Ossoff took the stage at an event in an Atlanta suburb to deliver a fiery condemnation of the Trump administration, declaring, "This is the Epstein class ruling our country."

Clips of the February speech went viral for Ossoff, a 39-year-old Democrat in a purple state seeking re-election this fall. Donations poured in from all over the country, adding to his huge cash haul. While would-be opponents slugged it out in a Republican primary and runoff, Ossoff ignored them and kept punching at President Trump in speech after speech.

"While you pay more for everything, the first family's wealth is growing by billions of dollars-because they're crooks, and everybody knows it," said Ossoff at an April rally.

Known for much of his time in office as a relative moderate seeking bipartisan compromise on issues like capping prescription-drug costs, Ossoff has built a reputation this year as one of the Democrats' most relentless Trump critics. Some Democrats started looking past the 2026 contest and have suggested the telegenic Ossoff should run for president in 2028.

Then came the Natalie remark.

Speaking in Atlanta on Sunday, Ossoff declared Trump would rather "travel with Natalie" than do the job of commander in chief. The comment referenced a recent incident in Turkey, when Trump brought his aide, Natalie Harp, with him when he secretly used a catering truck to escape a potential attack on Air Force One.

The remark-which many Trump allies and critics took as implying an improper relationship-infuriated the White House, which fired back at Ossoff, calling him a "loser" and "cringeworthy feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama."

Ossoff, who has said he isn't interested in running for president, didn't apologize. Amid charges of sexism, he deflected a question on MS Now by saying Trump was retreating into a "bubble of West Wing aides."

The dust-up came as Democrats have grown confident that Ossoff will win re-election.

Before the campaign season ramped up, Republicans in Washington and Georgia saw Ossoff's seat as a top pickup target in their efforts to retain control of the Senate.

Few see that now. The GOP nominee, Rep. Mike Collins, has been plagued by problems including reports of his son-in-law's ties to white nationalism, and polls show Ossoff with a strong lead. Collins said his son-in-law had no ties to his campaign and he condemned racist and antisemitic views.

'2028 audition tape'

Some Republicans now think-or hope-Ossoff's comment on Harp could give Collins a shot to put the Democrat on the defensive for once.

Ossoff "probably had this race won until he started running for the wrong office," said Chip Lake, a longtime GOP strategist in Georgia. "Picking fights with female White House staffers isn't a Senate strategy. It's a 2028 audition tape."

Katie Frost, another Republican strategist, said the Democrat "is trying to step into the center ring and spar with one of the best political counterpunchers of all time. It's a bold move, let's see how it works out for him."

As of June 30, Ossoff's campaign had raised about $98 million this term, with $77.3 million since the start of 2025. He has easily outpaced Collins, who had raised $7.4 million since last year, according to the Federal Election Commission filings.

On Tuesday, the Collins campaign issued a press release touting a survey by a conservative pollster that showed Collins was seven points behind. The campaign said it signaled the race tightening from the double-digit deficits other polls showed.

Ossoff "can spend all the money in the world trying to reinvent himself, but you can't buy a new voting record," said Collins campaign manager Josh Siegel. "Georgians are starting to get a good look at the one he has, and they don't like what they see."

Breakthrough campaign

Ossoff's political career began amid Democratic angst over Trump's victory in 2016.

At 30 years old, he garnered national attention and fundraising dollars in 2017 when he was the Democratic candidate in a special election for a congressional seat in suburban Atlanta.

The documentarian had never run for public office. He had attended a tony private school in suburban Atlanta, and then went on to Georgetown University for an undergraduate degree and a further degree at the London School of Economics. He had worked mostly making investigative videos about corruption and human-rights abuses in Africa and the Middle East.

During that campaign, Ossoff was cautious about criticizing Trump so as not to offend Republican voters in the district. He lost, but he impressed state Democratic Party leaders trying to revive their fortunes after years of GOP dominance. In 2021 Senate runoffs, Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock unseated Republicans, handing their party narrow control of the Senate.

Once in Washington, Ossoff spent years stressing bipartisanship and focusing on reaching out to constituents, while strongly supporting the legislative agenda of President Joe Biden. But he kept a low profile, rarely speaking to reporters or ruffling feathers.

Ossoff was critical of the Trump administration's DOGE cuts to the federal workforce, including at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based in Atlanta. But he stuck with other Senate Democrats in refusing to cut a deal to reopen the federal government during a fight with Republicans over healthcare cutbacks, despite representing a competitive seat.

Seth Clark, a longtime Democratic activist and a former commissioner in Macon-Bibb County, Ga., said Ossoff impressed local officials-Republican and Democrat-in Middle Georgia by focusing on constituent services.

"It was kind of a running joke that Jon Ossoff was back in Macon," Clark said. "The presence was constant." Now, he said, he hears from Georgians who are frustrated by inflation, gas prices and the Iran conflict, themes reflected in Ossoff's campaigning.

"I'm glad he's mad," he said. "I think folks on the ground are mad."