Who's In the Race

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) faces Republican Mike Collins and independent Elbert Bartell in the November 3 general election in Georgia's U.S. Senate race. A candidate must receive a majority of votes to win; if no one does, the top two finishers advance to a runoff, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's 2026 Candidate Qualifying Handbook. ​

Ossoff has served as U.S. senator for Georgia since 2021 and previously led a small business producing investigative journalism on public corruption, war crimes, human trafficking, and organized crime, according to his Senate biography. He ran unopposed in the May 19 Democratic primary.

Collins is a U.S. representative for Georgia's 10th Congressional District, first elected in 2022, and co-owns a family trucking business, according to his campaign website. He won the June 16 Republican primary runoff with about 56 percent of the vote over Derek Dooley, who received about 44 percent. Collins's margin over Dooley was 77,835 votes.

Bartell says he served eight years in the U.S. Air Force in air-base ground defense and conflict-resolution roles and has worked on Georgia transportation planning and public engagement, according to his campaign biography.

What They Stand For

Ossoff has opposed cuts to Medicaid and called out what he described as "the largest Medicaid cut in American history," according to The Current. He's also supported:

  • Capping Medicare insulin costs at $35 a month, citing his work to pass the cap, according to his Senate biography;
  • Reform and oversight of ICE tactics, including requiring local approval and impact assessments for proposed ICE facilities, according to The Current;
  • Ending the Iran war, saying "We need to end this war," according to The Current; and
  • Addressing what he called corruption in the insurance industry, arguing it is "why your insurance company gets away with denying your cancer treatment," according to The Current.

Collins has proposed cutting regulations and lowering taxes to address inflation, saying "You bring down taxes, get regulations under control, and you let the free market work." He also supports:

  • Streamlining permitting to increase housing supply, citing his PERMIT Act, according to his campaign website;
  • Stricter immigration enforcement, highlighting his sponsorship of the Laken Riley Act, according to his campaign website;
  • Health-care price transparency and expanding most-favored-nation drug-pricing policies, according to The Current; and
  • The administration's efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, saying "I support the administration's efforts to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon," according to The Current.

Bartell has advocated bringing "conflict management leadership" to the Senate and says neighborhood, community, faith, and small-business leaders should have equal access to policymaking alongside lobbyists and corporations, according to his campaign website.

The Money Behind the Race

Through June 30, Ossoff had raised about $97.99 million and held about $42.59 million in cash on hand, roughly 13 times as much in receipts and more than 20 times as much cash as Collins, who had raised about $7.41 million and had about $2.08 million on hand, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Outside groups have spent about $522,000 opposing Ossoff, led by SLF PAC at about $314,000, and about $69,000 supporting him, led by Forward Blue at about $27,000; they have spent about $853,000 opposing Collins, led by Georgia Values at about $853,000, and about $477,000 supporting him, led by Fellowship PAC at $350,000, according to FEC outside-spending records.

Race Outlook: Ratings and Betting Markets

Cook Political Report rates the race Likely Democratic as of Oct. 12; Sabato's Crystal Ball rates it Likely Democratic as of Oct. 15; and Inside Elections rates it Lean Democratic as of Oct. 2. On Kalshi, traders gave Democrats, whose nominee is Ossoff, a 95.2% chance of winning as of Oct. 19, while Republicans, whose nominee is Collins, stood at 4.8%.

Polling through Oct. 9, based on 83 surveys aggregated by Legis1, showed Ossoff leading Collins by 8.5 percentage points, 51.7 percent to 43.2 percent.

Republicans won nine of Georgia's 14 U.S. House seats in both 2022 and 2024, with Democrats taking the remaining five each cycle. Donald Trump carried Georgia in the 2024 presidential race with about 51 percent of the vote. Democrat Raphael Warnock won Georgia's Class III U.S. Senate seat in 2022 with about 49 percent of the vote.

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