US Sen. Jon Ossoff Faces Waning Support Among Georgia Jews, Reelection Chances in Danger: Report

US Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is hemorrhaging support among Jewish constituents over his increasingly adversarial posture against Israel, according to the New York Times. 

Jewish community leaders and donors initially became disillusioned with Ossoff after the lawmaker voted to implement a partial arms embargo against Israel and lambasted the Jewish state’s conduct in its war against Hamas, the Times reported over the weekend. The newspaper noted that a coalition of Jewish organizations subsequently sent a private letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, encouraging the Republican to challenge Ossoff in the 2026 Senate race. 

“As a bipartisan group of leaders in the metropolitan Atlanta Jewish community, we humbly ask you to consider running for the United States Senate in 2026,” the letter read. 

“Should you decide to run in the 2026 election,” the letter continued, “you would find no better friends, more loyal allies, or stronger supporters than us and our community.”

Last November, Ossoff, along with 19 other senators, joined an unsuccessful effort spearheaded by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to block the transfer of certain heavy-duty arms to Israel. 

Ossoff, who is Jewish, accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of behaving with “reckless disregard” for the lives of Palestinian civilians. He slammed the Jewish state for supposedly failing to “provide safe passage for food and essential medical supplies” in Gaza and criticized Israel for engaging in “conduct” that allegedly undermined American interests. Lamenting the arms embargo’s failure to pass the Senate, Ossoff stated that Israeli officials needed a “message” that the Jewish state must “have mercy for the innocent.”

Following the Hamas-led slaughter of roughly 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 hostages throughout southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, relations between the Democratic Party and Jews have become increasingly strained. Many supporters of Israel have become outraged at what they perceive as growing anti-Israel animus if not outright antisemitism within traditionally left-wing institutions. 

Progressive lawmakers such as Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Summer Lee (D-PA) have spent the past year launching attacks against Israel’s character, accusing the Jewish state of committing both a “genocide” and an “ethnic cleansing” campaign in Gaza. Even nominally moderate lawmakers such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) have sharpened their criticisms of Israel over the past 16 months, calling into question the Democratic party’s support of the Jewish state among some pro-Israel advocates.

The Times‘ report on Ossoff came after the latest Economist/YouGov poll released last week showed that Democrats in the US widely sympathize with Palestinians over Israelis.

Separately, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) released a survey last week finding that American Jews believe the Republican Party is handling antisemitism better than the Democratic Party and that 81 percent of American Jews stated that they cared about Israel because it was “important.”

Ossoff, who ran a senatorial campaign in part focusing on his Jewish identity, will likely face intense competition to secure reelection in 2026.  If Kemp were to enter the 2026 Senate race, he would be coming off the heels of a popular stint as governor, in which he enjoyed a 63 percent approval rating in June 2024. Ossoff is also widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection, already facing a barrage of attack ads from Republicans within The Peach State.

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