James_Sept-Oct_2025_web - Flipbook - Page 15
gainst conventional
wisdom that Georgia is a lock as a
“Red State” in the
2026 U.S. Senate
race, right now I give a slight edge
to U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff in his bid
for reelection next year. After all
he is the incumbent, but it is slight
advantage at best.
Why— considering President
Donald Trump’s election win in
2024 and Gov. Brian Kemp’s big
reelection in 2022— would I think
that Ossoff is not a sitting duck?
Because I’ve polled these Senate
contests more than any other
pollster in modern times and I’ve
polled Jon Ossoff often as well.
That doesn’t mean the Republicans vying to defeat the young
senator don’t have more than a
sporting chance. But first, consider
the early odds favoring Ossoff.
After all, with his young
hipster persona, nothing screams
Georgia less than Ossoff. And his
Paideia School (for years known
as the hippy-dippy of Atlanta
private prep schools) experience,
coupled with a set of Georgetown
and London School of Economics
degrees, don’t exactly scream
“How ‘Bout Them Dawgs.” But
hey Jon, my Pace Academy and
Cambridge creds were not exactly
calling cards either when I entered
Georgia politics.
But having also spent a lot of
time as a proud UGA student, I
think I can put this race into perspective. Using the old university
town term, this race is a stereotypical “Town versus Gown” race.
Ossoff is the “gown” in this one.
Erudite, urbane, and youthful, he
could just as easily be in Boston or
Austin. The “gown” candidate has
the elite highly educated vote. The
“town” belongs to everyone else. Or
so it would seem.
But long ago, siting at the Fox5
Atlanta TV anchor desk, covering a
congressional race in which Ossoff
performed well above expectations,
I declared that this young man had
a great future in politics. And for
once I was right. He does his homework, and learned from the start
that being a U.S. Senator in Georgia
is about the constituents. Although
I live in Florida these days, I keep
my ear to the ground in my native
state. When the postal service
could inexplicably not deliver mail
in large sections of Metro Atlanta,
it was Ossoff who was on the case.
He knew that people not getting
their checks and bills are far more
interested in what a politician can
do for them, than they are about
issues in D.C. That is taking care of
political business.
But then there is the “town.” Or
sort of . . .
The “town” vote is not that
of the big city. It’s not wealthy
Buckhead private school parents,
overwhelmed with trying to fit in at
liberal private schools, where being
a Republican or supporting Trump
is just not cool. It’s not the Emory
crowd, nor the big counties that
surround Atlanta. In essence, with
a few exceptions like Muscogee,
Chatham and Doughtery counties,
it’s everywhere and everybody else
in the state.
Among the Republican candidates are Congressmen Mike
Collins and Buddy Carter. Rounding
out the contenders is former NCAA
football coach Derek Dooley.
It’s sort of funny because back
in the “olden days” I would have
personally known each major candidate. For example, in a 2004 open
U.S. Senate contests, the contenders included the late Johnny Isakson and the late Mac Collins (father
of Mike Collins). I had served with
both in the Georgia Legislature and
ran on a statewide ballot with Isakson. Both men have since passed
away, and both are greatly missed.
But these are not the olden
days, and I have moved on to lots
of golf mingled in with Fox News
appearances in another state. I’m
personally out of touch.
S E PT E M B E R /O C TO BER 2025
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