As a teenager, Jon Ossoff was inspired by the pivotal role John Lewis played in the fight for racial equality when the civil rights icon was in his early 20s.
He was in awe of Lewis’ life, he told The Associated Press in December, particularly how someone “so young” had achieved such a prominent position as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
At 33, the millennial Democrat will assume his own leadership mantle after being one of two candidates to help the party sweep Georgia’s crucial U.S. Senate runoff elections, a victory that sealed Democrats’ control of the chamber. Ossoff defeated Republican David Perdue in the runoff that was held Tuesday after neither he nor Perdue received 50% of the vote in November.
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