Jon Ossoff Could Become the Youngest Senator to Take a Seat Since Biden

After losing a runoff election in 2017, the Democrat contender hopes to flip the state blue and become the youngest senator since Joe Biden.

GEORGIA — On Wednesday, 33-year-old Jon Ossoff won the Democratic nomination for one of the two Georgia Senate seats, becoming the challenger to incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue in November. Earning 50.8% of the vote in a field of seven contenders, Ossoff now has another chance to flip Georgia after his notorious attempt in the special 2017 election. Former Columbus, Georgia mayor Teresa Tomlinson came second with 15.3% of the vote, barely missing the runoff election that would have happened if no candidate had surpassed the 50% threshold.

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Should Ossoff win in November, he’d become the youngest person to earn a Senate seat since Joe Biden representing Delaware in 1973. Biden was 30 years old and back then, became the youngest senator since 1934.

“Thank you, Georgia! Thank you for your relentless determination to vote. We won!” Ossoff — who ran on a progressive platform that includes defending the ACA and Roe v. Wade — tweeted after his victory. “Together, we will heal our state and build a republic that lives up to our national ideals.”

On Tuesday, as Georgia experienced extreme voting delays, Ossoff said he would ensure that every vote was counted. 

“What happened in Georgia was an embarrassment, it was a disgrace,” Ossoff said later on the MSNBC show Morning Joe. “It was an upfront to the principles of our constitution.”

Related: Long Lines and Broken Machines Couldn’t Stop These Black and Latino Voters In Georgia

“I’m glad that we now have a nominee that can go forward in the November election and that we can ensure Georgia is on the map as a battleground state,” said State Rep. Brenda López Romero, who is facing Carolyn Bordeaux in a runoff election for the nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in the Seventh Congressional District. 

If Romero wins the runoff race in August and makes it to the ballot in November, she would make history by becoming the first Latina elected to represent Georgia in Congress. “I’m looking forward to the whole ticket from our presidential nominee all the way down to our local candidates,” said Romero, who got 14.4% of the vote versus the 46.3% of Bordeaux in a field of six candidates.

Democratic Party of Georgia Chairwoman Nikema Williams also congratulated Ossoff for his win.

“Jon Ossoff is a fighter against Washington corruption and a champion for hardworking Georgia families, and is going to be an excellent U.S. Senator,” Williams said in a statement. “His work uncovering corruption and investigating war crimes demonstrates his commitment to fighting for justice, and his grassroots support across the state shows that he is ready to win this November.”

As absentee ballots continue to come in, Romero added that it was encouraging to see an increase in Latino voter turnout, which she said has grown considerably with each election. 

“I’ve been doing advocacy work, particularly in voter education, for the past ten years, and every single election cycle, we are steadily increasing as it relates to Latino voter registration and turnout,” Romero said. “We will definitely see that the Latino vote will have a big impact come November.”