Those are just two examples. But to your bigger point, Perry and the commenter: They’re both pretty progressive, but neither one of them wants to be labeled an AOC progressive. Again, both of them were pretty critical of Israel when it came to concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. They have been very, very critical of the “one big, beautiful bill.” They voted repeatedly with most Senate Democrats to shut down the government by not approving the funding bills that didn’t have the extension of the health care subsidies. And now they’re voting to continue the partial shutdown because the Homeland Security funding bill doesn’t include money for reforming ICE enforcement. And even when a few Democrats caved to end the shutdown, Ossoff and Warnock were not part of that group and were not expected to be part of that group.
Bacon: So I’ll close with this, which is probably what brought me to interview you in the first place. I’ve known Tia a long time, but we were talking internally about who might run in 2028, and then I brought up Ossoff, because I think he is charismatic and he’s youngish, and he had done some things where I was like, “Oh.” He went on Crooked Media and he had done something, maybe Colbert or somebody like that. He had done a couple of national things. So I was like, “Oh.” And then my colleague was like, “I think you’re talking about the wrong senator.” They were like, “Warnock, actually. If you want to build a Democratic coalition, start with Black voters, move to progressives. He’s a great speaker.” I don’t know if either one of them are thinking about it, but what’s your assessment? One, do you think one of them or both could go national, and two, do you think they want to go national? I’ve heard Warnock is maybe a little shyer than I think, but anyway, go ahead with both of them.
Mitchell: So of course, both of them, when you ask, say, “I’m serving the people of Georgia.” Ossoff is saying, “I’m here to defeat the Republicans and get elected to another term.” That was the same thing Warnock said two years ago. But both of them have a national profile and I think both of them are in the conversation, the speculation about 2028. And quite frankly, both of them are open to hearing people out, and if either one of them believes he has a pathway, then I think they would test it out privately and possibly publicly. Again, this is just my speculation.