Ossoff and Bottoms launch unified ticket with a litany of attacks against Trump

Georgians got their first look on Sunday at how U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and Democratic nominee for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms plan to campaign in tandem ahead of the general election, casting themselves as top fighters against President Donald Trump’s agenda and his supporters.

The incumbent senator and former Atlanta mayor are still waiting for voters to decide who they will face in November as Republicans in both races are headed to runoffs. The Democrats are hoping the early unified ticket will give them an edge in November.

At the Tabernacle concert hall in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the statewide candidates launched their post-primary campaigns with a litany of attacks against Trump and the Republicans in Congress and at the state level who, they say, have failed to check his power.

“Y’all remember they promised to drain the swamp?” Ossoff said. “Instead, this is the most corrupt administration of all time, and everybody knows it.”

Supporters wear a “Vote Your Bottoms and Ossoff” shirts at a campaign rally for Democratic candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms and U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff at the Tabernacle in Atlanta on May 31, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

The rally comes as the party looks to energize its base while also winning over crucial swing and independent voters in a state that the president won in 2024.

The turnout numbers from the primary have added fuel to Democrats hopes of securing statewide seats: Democratic voters cast around 150,000 more ballots than Republicans in May.

Corruption is a central message of Ossoff’s campaign as the senator makes the case that Trump is prioritizing things like a costly expansion of the White House ballroom and a change that would put his likeness on the $250 bill.

“Atlanta, he’s doing these things now because no one will honor him when he’s gone,” Ossoff said. “Because he’s a failed president and a national disgrace.”

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff speaks at a joint campaign rally with Democratic candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms at the Tabernacle in Atlanta on May 31, 2026. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Bottoms, too, is leaning on her record of pushing back against Trump during her time as Atlanta’s top politician to cast herself as a “fighter” who will also take on the Republican-majority legislature on issues like expanding Medicaid.

“I’m no stranger to tough fights,” Bottoms said. “I stood up to bullies before, and I won. And as your next governor, I will wake up every day thinking of you and working to address the issues that matter to you.”

Bottoms has been a target of scathing attacks by Republicans over her record as Atlanta’s leader even before her primary win. But she ultimately won outright and avoided a runoff with more than 608,000 votes — around 56% of ballots cast in the gubernatorial primary race.

Ossoff was quick to embrace her after the primary, releasing a statement that said, “united Georgia Democrats enter the General Election with unprecedented momentum and determination.”

For Bottoms, her primary victory validates a campaign built on name recognition, her national political background as a top adviser for President Joe Biden and the argument that she is her party’s best pick to take on a Trump-aligned Republican in the fall.

The two Democrats both took aim at their potential Republican opponents as rubber-stamps for the MAGA agenda. Ossoff calling U.S. Rep. Mike Collins and football coach Derek Dooley “corrupt political insiders” who are “pro-war, pro-tariff and pro-cutting your health care.”

“They’re both Trump puppets, and we’ll beat either one of them in November,” he said.

Both Bottoms and Ossoff have campaigned on issues like affordability and health care access but have sharpened their focus on voting rights after the recent rollback of Voting Rights Act protections paved the way for Republican-led redistricting across the country — including in Georgia.

“We will protect the fundamental right to vote, then we will ensure that every voice in Georgia is heard,” Bottoms said.

Black women were a key demographic that propelled Bottoms to victory and are widely regarded as the driving force behind Democratic success. That includes voters like 60-year-old Dawn Marshall who secured a front row spot at Sunday’s rally.

Marshall said that Bottoms has her full support as the Democratic nominee for governor.

“I loved her as mayor even though I live outside of the city of Atlanta,” she said. “And I liked what she was doing in her short time in DC. So, she has my vote.”