Transcript: This State’s Senators Are Changing the Democratic Party

Journalist Tia Mitchell explains how Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have been so successful in a red-leaning state and why they might be national candidates in the future.

This is a lightly edited transcript of the February 25 edition of Right Now With Perry Bacon. You can watch the video here or by following this show on YouTube or Substack.

Perry Bacon: This is Perry Bacon. I am honored to be joined this morning by, of course, a Louisville native. I should note first because I am a Louisville native as well, and I am here in Louisville right now, actually. Louisville native Tia Mitchell, she is the Washington bureau chief of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Great reporter, great friend as well. Tia, welcome.

Tia Mitchell: Thank you so much for having me, Perry.

Bacon: Georgia is in the news a lot because it is a swing state now, which was not the case for a long time. But also you have these two very interesting senators in Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who both were elected in the 2020 cycle and Ossoff is up for election this year. Warnock will be up in 2028. I want to start with the news, which was Ossoff made this comment about this “Epstein class,” and that made the news and that was the first time I had heard that phrasing. Was that new to you? And talk about where that came from a little bit.

Mitchell: So I think Ossoff is very underrated as far as his oratory skills because he has been less visible over this six-year term he has served. He has chosen to not be the person who is always in the hallways talking to reporters. He keeps his head down, keeps a lower profile.

So I think people in Georgia were less surprised. Democrats in Georgia who follow him and go to his rallies and pay attention to what he says, I think were less surprised that he has a way with words. But I think it did take people outside who maybe have not paid as much attention to him by surprise. He is a great debater and a pretty good speaker, and so him coming up with this punchy phrase, the “Epstein class,” is par for the course for him because he does a really good job.

He also had his own investigative journalism company before he became a senator. So he knows how to write, knows how to punch up the drama, and again, has a way with words. That being said, I did feel like his “Epstein class” line was pretty new. Again, it was for a rally though. It was a speech, one of the kickoff events, if you will, for this campaign. So we know this was a speech he put some time and effort into and wanted to make it stick with people. And I think he did with that phrase among others.

Bacon: So Georgia politics is such where you have got to win some purple voters. You probably have to win some actual Republicans if you are Ossoff. So “Epstein class” is a way of attacking both parties at least, right? Is that the kind of campaign he is running?

Mitchell: Yeah, and I think for “Epstein class” in particular, he was talking about MAGA Republicans, the whole notion that President Trump has been quoted saying the release of the Epstein files would hurt people and that his friends could get hurt. Not necessarily saying, “I will get hurt,” but “I know people who may be hurt if the Epstein files are released.”

So I think tying Trump to the “class” of people who are in the Epstein files and resisted their release and are now, perhaps the perception that they are trying to avoid accountability still by standing in the way of the full release. I think that is what Ossoff was driving home.

But to your bigger point, yes. For Ossoff to win in Georgia, for any Democrat or Republican, quite frankly, to win in Georgia, you have got to get folks in the middle. Lately the pattern for success for people like Brian Kemp and Raphael Warnock is crossover voters. Voters that do not necessarily vote strictly one party line. So there were Kemp-Warnock voters in 2022 for example.

Bacon: Is he populist? He is not going to say defund the police, but is he more populist? Is that what we are thinking about now?

Mitchell: I think that is a great way to describe Senator Ossoff. I will give you a good example. When Hamas attacked Israel, and of course Israel began to really decimate Gaza, he spoke out, he was critical of the destruction in Gaza. He was concerned about the humanitarian impact, and that angered some conservative Jewish leaders in Georgia, in metro Atlanta.

Ossoff is Jewish and some conservative Jewish leaders felt that it was somewhat of a betrayal that he would criticize the Israeli government. And even at that time, Ossoff was like, it is okay for some people to criticize me because I know the voters agree with me. It is not unpopular to say that the people of Gaza are dying, their neighborhoods are being destroyed, they are being displaced and we are concerned about that. That should not be controversial. Even though there were fellow Jewish people who really leaned on him and were really upset with him.

Bacon: It looks like Ossoff is going to do well. He is running for reelection this year. Talk about the race there. The Republican field is not quite settled. He got lucky because Kemp is popular, but Kemp is not running. So Ossoff is in a good position in my view. He has........

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