The Democrat everyone suddenly wants to believe in

Jon Ossoff and the dream of a “unity candidate” in 2028.

For the past month, one name has dominated discussions of the 2028 Democratic primary: Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff.

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is having a moment. The senator is winning praise from across the Democratic Party’s many factions and is being touted as a potential top candidate for 2028.

There are good reasons for this hype: Ossoff is an excellent public speaker with a message on Donald Trump’s corruption that united the party. But there is also reason for doubt: “Unity” candidates have a questionable track record in primaries, and he may be falling into that trap.

Ultimately, the recent wave of Ossoff frenzy tells us that Democrats are unsatisfied with the current names topping the polls — like Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom (CA) — and are very much open to alternatives.

Though Ossoff is running for reelection in a crucial swing state, his consistent polling lead is prompting national observers to leapfrog all the way to 2028. Features in both the New York Times and Politico have touted him as a leading candidate. His odds on the Polymarket prediction site have more than doubled since late May: he’s now given a better chance than Vice President Kamala Harris (who is currently the leader in nearly all national polls).

There are good reasons for this. Ossoff is a repeat winner in one of the most important presidential battlegrounds who appeals to everyone from the Never Trumpers at the Bulwark to leftist streamer Hasan Piker. His rhetorical focus on Trump’s corruption elevates a theme that energizes Democrats of all stripes. And his background as a filmmaker makes him almost uniquely well-suited to the short-form video age.

“I have been jokingly calling him…the Lisan al-Gaib, which is a Dune reference to the Timothée Chalamet figure — essentially, the chosen one,” Chris Hayes, the MSNBC host, said on a recent episode of The Ezra Klein Show. “I think he has figured out a way, in a broadly palatable ideological fashion, to leverage a populist moral critique of the rot of Trump that can appeal across the different Democratic factions.”

And yet, there’s some reason to think this hype is getting over its skis.

Ossoff is a certain kind of archetype who often emerges in divided parties: The mythical “unity candidate.”

These figures are typically broadly appealing elected officials without any one defined base of supporters. They have traits that seem to correct for the party’s failures in the previous election, have qualities that can attract fans from a wide range of factions and demographics within it, and they have yet to alienate anybody important. But the “unity candidate” has a mixed record in recent contests — they often look perfect on paper, then struggle in practice.

Whether Ossoff is the Democratic savior or another unity candidate poised to flame out remains to be seen. There’s a reasonable case in either direction.

But the fact that Ossoff is already generating so much attention tells us something undoubtedly important: that Democrats are deeply frustrated with their early frontrunners and looking for alternatives. That could augur a wild, perhaps even unpredictable, outcome in the eventual primary.

Why Ossoff has so many Democrats excited

Let’s start with one important caveat:........

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