Jon Ossoff is having a moment. But some Democratic insiders are questioning whether he's the real deal — or if a few slickly produced videos are making him look like more of a political juggernaut than he is.

Why it matters: The Georgia senator, 39, has catapulted into the 2028 conversation by making liberals on social media swoon over his viral clips of high-energy rallies and sharp takedowns of President Trump and Republicans.

• Our conversations with Democratic strategists in Georgia and beyond — as well as aides to his potential 2028 rivals — revealed a mix of respect for Ossoff's digital skills and skepticism that they add up to a serious presidential campaign-in-waiting.
• One Georgia Democrat went so far as to compare Ossoff's rise to "The Great White Hype," a 1996 comedy about a Black boxing promoter who recruits an amateur white boxer to draw more money and attention.

🔎 Zoom in: The strategists said Ossoff has earned much of the buzz that's building around him.

• But they worry that his core team of advisers is too insular and that the nationwide chatter about him has gone to his head, even as he focuses on his Senate reelection campaign this year. Among their critiques:

1. He hasn't yet proved he can be nimble in the modern media environment.

• Ossoff's videos have largely featured him delivering prepared speeches — not talking off the cuff.
• Ossoff also hasn't been as active on the podcast circuit as other potential 2028 presidential contenders. He's stuck to more predictable environments such as interviews with the liberal network MS Now or brief interactions with TMZ.

Kyle Tharp, a progressive operative who writes a newsletter about digital media, told us that Ossoff's team is "very talented" but that their "perfectly choreographed clips" are a big part of "fueling the Jon Ossoff 2028 hype machine."

• The question, he said, is whether Ossoff can have "more unscripted moments and long-form conversations."

2. Ossoff got where he is by riding Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock's coattails.

• Ossoff flipped a Senate seat in 2021 in a key presidential battleground, and could be on the verge of another win: Polls show him leading Republican Rep. Mike Collins by up to double digits.
• But some strategists say Warnock pulled Ossoff across the finish line when they ran in the 2021 runoff election. Warnock, a senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, outperformed Ossoff in the runoff — then held on to his seat in 2022 despite political headwinds during the Biden administration.

"Ossoff didn't get here alone," said Rich McDaniel, a Georgia-based Democratic strategist. "Many would argue it was Warnock who carried him in 2020, not the other way around."

• Warnock is widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and he's taken more steps toward a run than Ossoff — writing a book and campaigning in Nevada, an expected early primary state in 2028.

3. The progressive left's crush on Ossoff may be short-lived, some strategists say.

• Many Democrats have been searching for a presidential candidate in 2028 who can bridge the party's moderate and progressive wings.
• Some think that could be Ossoff, pointing to positive comments by left-wing voices such as Hasan Piker and Mehdi Hasan.
• But others think the love affair will be over once progressives learn Ossoff has opposed policies such as Medicare for All and abolishing ICE.

Ossoff, who's Jewish, also has sometimes struggled to navigate the fraught politics surrounding Israel.

• Ossoff built credibility among some progressives when he voted for proposals by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders aimed at limiting arm sales to that country. But Jewish Democrats in Georgia expressed feelings of betrayal over his votes in November 2024.
• Five months later, Ossoff voted against two of Sanders' amendments that would have blocked $8.8 billion in arms sales to Israel.
• Ossoff also could face attacks from the left over his ownership of bonds in the state of Israel totaling $1,001 to $15,000, which were noted in his 2024 financial disclosure.

One Democratic strategist who's worked on Georgia races told us "the thing that worries me most" is that Ossoff could follow the trajectory of Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan Senate candidate who tried and failed to woo both flanks of the party in this year's primary.

🗣️ What they're saying: An Ossoff spokesperson pointed to comments the senator has made denying he's eyeing a presidential bid.

• "I have zero interest in running for president in 2028," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this summer.
• "2028 fantasy football is a distraction from the urgent task at hand: midterm victory."

Yes, but: Many past presidential candidates initially denied they were interested in running — and Ossoff could endanger his Senate reelection campaign if he overtly moved toward a 2028 bid now.

Read more.

— Holly Otterbein, Alex Thompson

Gavin Newsom is quietly banking a lot of goodwill among party organizers and elected officials in states — particularly in the South — that will be key in the midterms and the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.

• Newsom has raised more than $1.7 million for critical state parties and their legislative committees so far this two-year cycle, according to data reviewed by Axios.

Why it matters: State party leaders told Axios the California governor has raised more for them than any other prominent Democrat and potential White House rival.

• Newsom's ability to raise the money almost entirely through his email list shows that he could be a formidable grassroots fundraiser in a White House run.

🚙 Driving the news: Newsom raised the most for the Democratic Party in South Carolina, which is expected to host the first contest in the 2028 primary.

• Jay Parmley, executive director of the state party, confirmed that Newsom raised over $300,000 for the state party from grassroots fundraising.
• "He's raised the most. [New Jersey Sen.] Cory Booker has pitched in, and there are others," he said, also mentioning Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. "But Newsom's is a bigger amount," Parmley told Axios.
• "He rose to the occasion when we were all facing redistricting challenges," he said.

Raymond Buckley, chair of the party in New Hampshire, praised Newsom for "phenomenal fundraising assistance."

• Newsom raised over $220,000 for the party and over $56,000 for the New Hampshire Senate Democratic Caucus this cycle.

Molly Forgey, senior adviser for the Nevada Democratic Party, said that "Newsom's fundraising emails have raised more for the Nevada state party than anyone else."

• Forgey noted that other potential 2028 candidates have raised significant money for ballot initiatives and other Nevada campaigns.

🧮 By the numbers: Newsom raised money for 14 state parties from more than 74,000 donors.

• Newsom's Campaign for Democracy group and its affiliated committees had over $14 million cash on hand at the end of June, according to the Federal Election Commission.

A key architect of Newsom's fundraising machine is Tim Tagaris, who was instrumental in building Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' small-dollar fundraising operation in the 2020 presidential campaign, when Sanders didn't hold any traditional high-dollar fundraisers yet outraised most of his opponents.

• Newsom's email list "is platinum," Parmley said. "There's no one in politics raising money like Gavin Newsom."

Zoom out: Other Democrats eyeing a presidential run also have given cash to state parties and the national Democratic Party apparatus.

• Kelly raised $400,000 for Ossoff and helped other Democrats in key races, the New York Times reported.
• Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently donated $5,000 to each state party through his outside group Win the Era.

Read more.

— Alex Thompson

A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to:

• New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the progressive show "The Majority Report" that "I actually meet with MAHA activists … because a lot of them really don't believe that their fight is partisan, and it's not in many ways."
• Newsom released tax returns showing that he and his wife earned $1.7 million to $2 million a year from 2022 to 2024.
• CBS California's Julie Watts dug into the contracting process for Newsom's program to send free diapers to every new parent in the state, and called the arrangement a no-bid contract. Newsom's team called the report "demonstrably false."
• 🗳️ Former Vice President Kamala Harris quoted Donald Trump's "too big to rig" line in discussing elections, telling the National Urban League in Nashville that Democrats need to turn out in large numbers in November to overcome GOP election meddling. "It means being ruthless. They are ruthless. We need to be ruthless too," she said. "We must be uncompromising — and we must allow for a real conversation about revisiting certain things" such as the Electoral College, expanding the Supreme Court to 13 justices, and granting statehood to Puerto Rico and D.C.
• Buttigieg told the National Urban League that the next Democratic nominee for president will need to "be able to explain how to change the system itself while getting good policies out of the system.… That means having some understanding of how Washington works without being a creature of Washington."
• Buttigieg has avoided endorsing in the divisive Democratic Senate primary in his adopted home state of Michigan. He told CNN and the Bulwark that he sees his role as uniting the party after the primary.
• 💵 NBC Chicago's Alex Maragos pressed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to say one cool thing about being a billionaire. Pritzker dodged and kept saying that the cool thing was the opportunity to give back.
• 🥊 A spokesperson for New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani disputed former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's account of their private conversation about Israel and Gaza. Emanuel also told Politico's Jonathan Martin that he's a "raging moderate," criticized Barack Obama's Justice Department for not pursuing criminal charges against bankers after the Great Recession, and dodged on whether he thought NAFTA was a mistake.
• Kelly was among a group of senators who had dinner with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and pressed Altman on AI's use in surveillance and warfare, CNBC reported.
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear sent a second letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asking that he provide "proof of your capacity to serve" or resign.
• 📞 California Rep. Ro Khanna told the Washington Examiner that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro "very graciously" called him after Khanna's recent detainment by Israeli settlers while visiting the West Bank. He said Shapiro would be a "formidable" 2028 rival.