A long-shot Democrat is gaining attention. His GOP rival may have bigger ambitions.

Democrat Tony Kozycki has spent much of the fall debating an empty podium as Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick spent the last few months ignoring him.

The two are unlikely rivals in the battle for Georgia’s 7th District, a deep-red territory that stretches from Atlanta’s northern suburbs to rural North Georgia.

Even as Democrats insist Kozycki could make the race competitive, McCormick is looking further ahead. He’s laying what many Republicans see as groundwork for a potential 2028 U.S. Senate bid against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.

And perhaps he has reason to look past November. The political math is forbidding for Kozycki, even as Republicans nationwide scramble to defend once-friendly territory.

McCormick won reelection by nearly 30 percentage points in 2024. Even the most optimistic Democrats acknowledge it would take a political tsunami to unseat him.

Still, Democrats aren’t writing off Kozycki. They point to internal polls suggesting a tightening race and hope a backlash against President Donald Trump could scramble Georgia’s political map, particularly if U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff scores a runaway reelection victory that buoys the rest of the ticket.

And Ossoff gave Kozycki a boost last week, urging his supporters at a Roswell campaign stop to take the challenger seriously.

“I want you all to know and spread the word that Tony has my full support, and I’m 100% behind him in this race,” the Democrat said. “Let’s get it done. We need a change in leadership in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District.”

A new kind of Democrat?

Kozycki doesn’t fit neatly into the traditional political mold.

An Alpharetta immigration attorney making his first run for office, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a naval flight officer aboard F/A-18 fighter jets during three combat deployments.

He’s made immigration a central issue in his campaign, arguing that the nation can secure its borders without abandoning constitutional protections.

During a recent interview on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Politically Georgia” podcast, Kozycki described helping the wife of a U.S. Army soldier who faced possible deportation while her husband was away for military training.

The woman’s asylum application had been denied, and Kozycki said her family feared she would be taken into custody during a standard immigration check-in in Norcross.

After Kozycki and local advocates intervened, immigration authorities allowed her to leave the August appointment without being detained, though her broader case is still pending.

“We can’t have our service members in a time of war being concerned that their family is going to be ripped away from them while they’re gone,” he said.

While Kozycki is sharply critical of Trump’s immigration crackdown, he doesn’t spare Democrats, either.

“I believe that the Biden administration made a major mistake in how they handled the border,” he said, advocating for stronger border security and more enforcement resources.

He hopes the argument will resonate beyond his party’s base, particularly with swing voters and disillusioned Republicans uneasy with Trump’s immigration crackdown.

That hasn’t stopped McCormick’s campaign from trying to portray him as a far-left Democrat. His spokesperson, Ryan Mahoney, said McCormick is focused on lowering costs and public safety and not “wasting his time playing these stupid political games.”

“His opponent is running on failed socialist policies that never work, while Rich McCormick is standing on his proven record of service to Georgia’s 7th District” Mahoney said.

Looking beyond

McCormick, meanwhile, isn’t acting like he’s worried about political survival.

The Morehouse-trained physician is cultivating relationships beyond his district as he considers a potential Senate run in 2028. Last week, he traveled to South Georgia to meet with Republican activists and local officials, while also working to strengthen his relationship with Trump and his loyalists.

McCormick was among the few prominent Georgia Republicans who initially opposed Trump’s 2024 comeback. Instead, he stumped for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Iowa and the Atlanta suburbs.

After DeSantis withdrew, McCormick endorsed Trump and became an outspoken supporter of his agenda. Last month, he was among the guests at a White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping.

McCormick’s three congressional races show how much the Georgia political landscape has changed this decade.

After narrowly losing to Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux in 2020 in what was then a swing suburban territory, McCormick defeated a Trump-backed GOP rival in a redrawn district in 2022. Another map overhaul shifted him to the 7th District, where he cruised to reelection two years later.

But even with a GOP-friendly seat, McCormick hasn’t been cushioned from anger over Trump’s agenda.

In February 2025, hundreds of angry constituents confronted him at a raucous Roswell town hall over his support for Trump’s agenda, including sweeping cuts that ravaged the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fiery confrontation became an early warning sign for Republicans about the grassroots fury bubbling up at town halls. When McCormick returned to the town hall circuit this May, it was held at an Alpharetta hotel featuring tighter security and a more controlled atmosphere.

That same month, he delivered the commencement address at the Morehouse School of Medicine, where he graduated in 2010, despite student protests over his Trump ties. He worked to cool tensions during a closed-door sit-down with student leaders.

And during recent Congressional Black Caucus festivities, McCormick was the only Georgia Republican who attended a Washington reception co-hosted by Warnock, his potential 2028 opponent.

Speaking to a mostly Black audience, McCormick invoked his Morehouse ties and urged more consensus.