In 2018, Lucy McBath shocked many when she was elected to represent Georgia’s 6th congressional district as the Democratic candidate. The district has been under the control of the Republican Party for a long time. However, the revolution didn’t completely start with her, but with Jon Ossoff who was able to give Republican Karen Handel a good fight by shooting as high as 48.22% in the 2017 special election, compared to Rodney’s 38.3%. Stooksbury voted against Republican Tom Price 61.7% in previous elections.
Beyond being a politician, Jon Ossoff is also a filmmaker who is the writer and producer of various documentaries including Living with Ebola and The Battle for Africa, both in 2014.
Who is Jon Ossoff?
As noted, Ossoff is a politician and documentary filmmaker. He was born Thomas Jonathan Ossoff in Atlanta, Georgia on February 16, 1987, to Richard Ossoff and Heather Fenton.
Her father is of Russian-Lithuanian descent and grew up in the United States, in Massachusetts, while her mother is an Australian immigrant whose father fought in World War II in the Mediterranean.
Richard Ossoff (Jon’s father) who studied Government at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster and went to Harvard Business School where he earned an MBA, and Heather Fenton (his mother) who co-founded the NewPower PAC much later are both politically inclined. It was from them that Jon developed his interest in politics.
He was raised as an only child in Northlake and he got his education from Paideia School which is an independent private school in Atlanta, Georgia. When he was still in high school, he interned with civil rights icon and Georgia congressman for the 5th congressional district, John Lewis.
While still at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, he took lessons from Michael Oren, Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, and Madeleine Albright, Israel’s first female secretary. State of the United States. He graduated from college in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree before moving to the London School of Economics where he graduated in 2013.
He also worked with Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District Rep. Hank Johnson for 5 years.
Career
In 2017, after President Donald Trump’s selection of Tom Price, who will be his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Georgia’s Sixth District became vacant, so Ossoff decided to give it a shot. In previous elections, Price had won the district convincingly over Democrat Stooksbury.
Before that, the last time the position was held by a Democrat was from 1965 to 1979, when John J. Flynt represented the district. With the backing of leading Democrats including John Lewis, Hank Johnson, Stacey Abrams and Bernie Sanders, he seemed the only one to change that. More so, he was able to raise over $23 million in campaign donations.
In the following nonpartisan primary coverage, which took place in April, he won 48.1% of the vote before losing in a closely contested race to Republican Karen Handel who received 51.78% of the vote against her 48.22 %.
Besides his involvement in politics, JonOssoff is also the CEO of Emmy Award-winning investigative production company, Insight TWI. He has participated in several documentary productions such as Deadline: White House (2017), Stacey on the Front Line (2017), Justice! (2015), Africa Investigates (2014 to 2015), and People and Power (2014 to 2015).
Is he gay, married or does he have a girlfriend?
Although Jon Ossoff has not come out to speak regarding his sexual orientation, there is no indication that he is gay. This is mainly because he has a very long relationship with his girlfriend, now engaged, Alisha Kramer.
While campaigning for Congress, one of the main things his opponents used against Ossoff was that he did not reside in the district he hoped to represent. According to him, the reason he was out of the district was to support his girlfriend who was still an obstetrics and gynecology medical student at Emory University.
Alisha Kramer and Ossoff met over 12 years ago when they were students at Paideia School and from there they both went to Georgetown University. In 2018, she graduated from Emory University School of Medicine as an MD. Alisha works as a volunteer at the Geroge Washington University Hospital Women Center.
Already, Jon and Alisha have been engaged, so they are expected to wed soon.