New reporting suggests Ossoff is using his Georgia re-election bid as a test run for 2028—with the overwhelming majority of his ad buys running outside Georgia.
“Jon Ossoff’s national ad buys show he’s more focused on laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run than improving the lives of Georgians here and now,” said NRSC National Press Secretary Bernadette Breslin. “Ossoff treats Georgia as an afterthought, while Mike Collins treats it as a priority.”
To date, Ossoff has invested millions in TV, digital, and streaming across early-voting states and key swing states:
A search of the Google Ads database suggested that $20,000 worth of ads appeared in Iowa, $23,000 in New Hampshire, $43,000 in South Carolina, and $30,000 in Nevada—all traditional early presidential primary states, though that’s likely to shift this cycle. Ossoff’s ads also ran in key presidential swing states: $113,000 in North Carolina, $134,000 in Pennsylvania, and $95,000 in Michigan. More than $654,000 worth of Google Ads ran in California, a blue state full of Democratic donors. He also spent $800,000 in digital, streaming, and TV ads in New York.
Notably, Ossoff’s nationalized campaign strategy appears unique among Democratic Senate candidates, with Graham Platner, Roy Cooper, and Sherrod Brown all “keeping ad targeting close to home”:
The Ossoff campaign isn’t geofencing specific states for their donor ads, and why wouldn’t Ossoff want to reach voters across the country? After all, he’s become even more of a national figure this cycle with his studied Obama-like cadence and laser-cut messaging. And he’s running one of the highest-profile Senate races of the cycle. It’s notable, however, that other campaigns haven’t adopted the same strategy: Graham Platner is advertising only in Maine, and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown are also keeping ad targeting close to home. All three states are top Democratic pickup opportunities.
Ossoff’s out-of-state spending spree comes after he assured CNN last weekend he allegedly “has no interest in running for president,” even as he picks up early endorsements from radicals like Hasan Piker.
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