The quiet habit behind Sen. Jon Ossoff’s success

At some point — or at many points — during the work week, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff sets aside a block of several hours dedicated to calling Georgians who are not expecting a call from him. The calls go to pastors, small-town mayors, farmers or whomever his last batch of calls suggested he call next. They may be Democrats or Republicans or not political at all.

The cold calls are a habit Ossoff described to me early in his time in the Senate as a way to not just stay connected to the state while he was in Washington, but also to get a better understanding of the people and issues he did not yet know well as a first-term member of Congress.

“One of the things I said in my victory speech was whether you were for me, or you were against me, I’ll be for you in the Senate,” he said then.

More than four years later, I wanted to see how all those cold calls had turned out for Ossoff. So I started cold-calling Georgians, too. Everybody I called had heard from him.

“I was on my way to drop my daughter off at the airport and got a call from a number that I didn’t recognize,” said John Pezold, a former McDonald’s franchise owner who represented the Columbus area in the state House as a Republican until 2018. “The voice on the other end said, ‘Hi, this is Sen. Jon Ossoff.’”

Incredulous, Pezold responded with something that we can’t publish. But the senator assured him the call was real. Pezold said Ossoff told him to “please call me Jon.”

Pezold had been out of politics for several years by then and had never met Ossoff. After a few minutes of chatting, Pezold asked Ossoff as politely as he could why he was calling. He said Ossoff told him he is trying to be aggressive about reaching out across party lines.

After asking members of the Georgia House Democratic caucus which Republicans he should reach out to, they all suggested Pezold.

Ossoff suggested Pezold call anytime he thought of something “ripe for bipartisanship” that he might be able to pursue with Republicans. “You’ve got my cellphone number now,” Pezold remembered Ossoff saying. “My lines are always open.”

“I was flabbergasted,” Pezold said. “He certainly didn’t have to make that phone call, and it made an impression for sure.”

Along with calling for no reason, Ossoff has been known to call Georgians he heard were sick in the hospital or had a death in the family. He calls constituents to follow up on casework to make sure everything was taken care of, or university leaders to report about grant funding. Whether it’s good news or bad news or no news at all, Ossoff is often on the other end of the phone.

Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz said he hears from Ossoff routinely.

“It has been just a recurrent habit of his to check in, kind of unprompted, not connected with any particular request of ours or initiative of his,” Girtz said.

In the calls, Ossoff often asks what’s on the mayor’s mind or which issues Athens leaders are dealing with. Other times, Ossoff calls with updates or questions on specific projects, like funding requests for Athens or local nonprofits.

Girtz said Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is also responsive, as was former Republican U.S. Rep. Jody Hice when he represented Athens. He has not heard from Athens’ current representative, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (who is Ossoff’s Republican challenger), in more than two years. But he says Collins’ local staff had been helpful on a local rail issue recently.

“I think Ossoff has probably been the most communicative member of Congress I’ve ever served alongside,” Girtz said.

While Girtz considers himself a progressive, Macon-Bibb County’s Republican mayor, Lester Miller, said he has had similar outreach from Ossoff throughout his time in office.

“Sen. Ossoff is well known for having great constituent services,” Miller said. “He has reached out to me as the mayor of Macon on multiple occasions just to check in without any particular purpose at all.”

Miller said Ossoff’s staff also keeps in touch related to federal projects and spending requests.

On one level, reaching out to the people you represent is simply the job of being a senator or congressman. But it’s also the piece most easily set aside when social media, staff and polls can fill in the gaps. The result is that Ossoff’s calls feel sadly out of the ordinary.

“I don’t have to track him down. He tracks me down,” Tifton Mayor Julie Smith told my colleague Greg Bluestein last month.

Smith was one of three Republican local officials, including the Valdosta mayor and former mayor of Toccoa, to endorse Ossoff in his run for reelection so far. Ossoff’s work for their cities is a big reason for their endorsements. But his outreach to other Republicans will never be fully known.

One rural GOP lawmaker told me he has heard from Ossoff 20 to 25 times, either after natural disasters, to follow up on constituent requests or just to check in. The lawmaker asked not to be named to avoid repercussions from GOP leaders.

Pezold, who heard from Ossoff driving to the airport, did not say who he is voting for in the U.S. Senate contest. But he said he thinks Ossoff’s outreach across the aisle, both publicly and privately, will be seen in November’s results.

“I think people are underestimating the sheer number of Rick Jackson-Jon Ossoff voters; that is a very real thing.”

Democrats and supporters have gotten plenty of calls, too.

Patrick Erwin, a former Cobb County teacher, got a call from Ossoff thanking him for helping with voter outreach for Ossoff’s campaign for Senate. Like Pezold, he did not recognize the number, so he let it go to voicemail.