Semi-serious future prediction:
View attachment 635472026 United States Senate election in Georgia
The
2020 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Georgia, concurrently with the 2026 Georgia gubernatorial election, elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and Georgia state legislature, as well as elections to various statewide offices. This was Georgia's first election for its Class 2 seat to use a ranked-choice voting system. Incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff won re-election to a second full term against freshman U.S. Representative P. K. Martin IV.
Ossoff – first elected in 2020 in a runoff against then-incumbent David Perdue – was considered a key target for the National Republican Senatorial Committee due to Georgia's competitive nature and the large bench of candidates boasted by the Georgia GOP. However, high-profile candidates such as outgoing Governor Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr would decline to challenge Ossoff, allowing Martin – aided by the backing of venture capitalist and GOP megadonor Peter Thiel – to win the Republican nomination against former Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and businessman Kelvin King. Despite Martin's lack of name recognition and Ossoff's overall positive approval ratings, the nature of the 2026 midterms and historical trends such as the "six-year itch" pushed many pollsters to favor the Republican nominee. According to OpenSecrets, this campaign was the most expensive of the 2026 election cycle, with over $700 million spent by both major parties.
On Election Day, Ossoff would finish in the first round with 49.1% of the vote, ahead of Martin's 48.8%; as no candidate had reached more than 50%, second references were tallied, with a full count of all second-preference votes concluding on November 17. Ultimately, Ossoff would win re-election by a margin of 0.6%, winning 50.3% of the popular vote (when accounting for the elimination of ballots with no second preferences). Martin would initially refuse to concede and called for a recount in a handful of counties, most notably Fayette County, where Ossoff received a significant number of second-preference votes from Forward Party voters. However, a recount which concluded on November 25 would find no significant change in vote totals, and Martin conceded the same day. Ossoff would serve one more term in the Senate, retiring in 2032 to run in, and ultimately win, the 2032 presidential election.
