Nate Silver Names Jon Ossoff His Top Pick for 2028 Democratic Presidential Nomination

Polling analyst Nate Silver has named Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff his preferred candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, praising the 39-year-old Democrat's ability to appeal to both progressive and centrist voters.

Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff defeated Republican challenger Mike Collins in the November 2026 midterm elections. [Photo: Jon Ossoff Facebook]

Silver revealed his choice at the Crooked Con political conference in Washington, following Ossoff's re-election victory in Georgia's November 3 midterm elections, Brendan Rascius reported for The Independent.

Ossoff would be “a slam dunk number one pick,” Silver said, according to The Daily Beast.

“He won by what was like 16, 17, 18 points or something,” Silver said.

“He seems like the uniformly 'compromise candidate' between the progressive and the more centrist factions of the party. And he seems very talented.”

Silver, who founded FiveThirtyEight and publishes the Silver Bulletin newsletter, also joked about Ossoff's appearance, asking, “Is he looksmaxxing or something?”

Ossoff defeated Republican challenger Mike Collins, winning approximately 59 percent of the vote against Collins' 41 percent, according to Georgia election results.

His victory margin was approximately 18 percentage points.

A Georgetown University graduate and former congressional staffer, Ossoff was first elected to the Senate in 2021. He became the first Jewish senator from Georgia and the first Democrat elected to a full Senate term in the state since 1996.

Ossoff has built a profile as a prominent critic of the Trump administration and has drawn national attention through his questioning of administration officials and nominees.

His strong re-election performance also helped fuel speculation about his presidential prospects.

At Crooked Con, Ossoff topped a straw poll of attendees choosing a potential Democratic nominee for 2028, receiving 38.4 percent of the vote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez finished second with 16.6 percent, followed by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg with 13.9 percent.

However, Silver's endorsement and the conference straw poll do not establish that Ossoff will run. Silver subsequently noted in his newsletter that Ossoff had said during the closing weeks of his Senate campaign that he would not seek the presidency in 2028.