In a debate Tuesday in Atlanta, Sen. Jon Ossoff made more headlines for what he said he would not do in 2028 than for his 2026 re-election campaign.

Such has long been the case for the Georgia Democrat, who is competing against Republican Rep. Mike Collins for a second U.S. Senate term. No sooner had the pair shaken hands before their second debate than Ossoff was asked the question that has consistently stoked speculation.

“Senator Ossoff, you’ve repeatedly said you won’t run for president in 2028, but your name continues to surface as a potential contender,” Greg Bluestein, chief political reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a debate moderator, said. “So will you pledge right now tonight to serve your full, six-year term if you win?”

Ossoff was quick to deliver an unequivocal response: “I have zero interest in running for president.”

That line is one Ossoff has used many times before. Across multiple interviews and public appearances, he has routinely rejected the speculation that he is interested in mounting a bid for the White House in 2028.

“I’m not running for president,” Ossoff clarified Tuesday. “I’m running for re-election to the Senate.”

But Ossoff’s repeated rebukes have done little to quell the speculation, and it is far from unheard of for a candidate campaigning for re-election to hint that they would abandon another term to run for president. If Ossoff beats Collins in November — and polling widely indicates that is likely — he would be only two years into his second term when 2028 rolls around.

The freshman Senator is widely regarded in Democratic circles as a rising star. His sharp, methodical interrogations of witnesses at congressional hearings often go viral on social media.

During Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing in July, Ossoff pressed Clayton over his refusal to answer questions about who won the 2020 election and his stumble during a series of questions about whether he knew Trump had told former DNI chief Tulsi Gabbard to attend an FBI raid of the Fulton County, Georgia, election office earlier this year.

“The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday?” Ossoff asked Clayton, referring to a private conversation the men had the day before. The senator appeared stunned.

“It was the first time that, in my recollection, I’ve thought about it recently,” Clayton answered.

Ossoff’s line of questioning dominated headlines after the hearing, and Clayton’s answer deepened Democrats’ concern that Trump is launching an unprecedented effort to discredit and potentially steal the midterm elections. Clayton was confirmed 51-47 along party lines in July.

In a previous hearing, Ossoff grilled Gabbard herself over why she was at the search of the Georgia elections office. He has also pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about inconsistencies in the White House’s narrative about the Iran war and peppered Louis DeJoy, the former U.S. postmaster general, about widespread mail delays in Georgia, asking him if he had received a letter Ossoff had sent him.

In an interview with MS NOW in August, Ossoff said he has “zero interest” in a presidential run and that his purpose in those interrogations was “not to gain attention.” Instead, he said, it was “to do my job and do it well,” saying that his work in the Senate has led to tangible, legislative impact in his home state of Georgia.

On the campaign trail in 2004, then-Senate hopeful Barack Obama rejected the idea that he would make a bid for the White House. In 2008, three years into his Senate term, he was elected president of the United States.

Kevin Frey contributed to this report.

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