Abstract:
In January 2021, Jon Ossoff became the first Jew elected as a United States senator in Georgia, as well as the first Jew to be elected to the United States Senate since the 19th century. Ossoff won his seat in a run-off election against incumbent Senator David Perdue. In the same run-off election Georgia also made history by electing its first African American senator, Raphael Warnock, who ran against the incumbent Kelly Loeffler. This article profile Ossoff and emphasizes what is particularly Jewish in his approach to politics and social justice. He noted that his Jewish upbringing “instilled in me a conviction to fight for the marginalized, the persecuted and the dispossessed.” Click on the URI above to read the article.