At 33, Ossoff will be the youngest sitting US senator. He’s also the first Jewish senator from Georgia.
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This story is part of Elections 2020, CNET’s coverage of the voting in November and its aftermath.
Democrat Jon Ossoff, 33, won his runoff election against Georgia Sen. David Perdue Tuesday night to become the youngest senator-elect since a 30-year-old Joe Biden in 1973. He’s also the first ever millennial senator, if you consider millennial birth years to fall between 1981 and 1996 — Ossoff was born in 1987. That means he grew up in a time when youth was lived much more online than in the past, and his Twitter history reflects that.
Since Ossoff’s victory over the Republican incumbent, and even before, people have been digging through his Twitter history. But instead of finding the kind of slurs and jokes that heaped scorn on musician John “Bean Dad” Roderick recently, Ossoff’s Twitter detectives found more pop-culture-themed tweets. Turns out Ossoff, a former investigative journalist, is a fan of Star Wars, anime, and the band Imagine Dragons, among other things.
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Back in 2012, Ossoff, then 25 years old, wondered what the plot of then yet-to-come Star Wars trilogy would be. He revealed he’s not just a surface fan by citing Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, not exactly a character with the name recognition of Luke and Leia. (Maybe Ossoff was a bit of a galactic prophet — Thrawn has since been mentioned in The Mandalorian, and may play a role in Star Wars: Ahsoka.)
“Will it be the Thrawn Trilogy?” Ossoff wondered.
Nearly a decade after the tweet, as Ossoff’s fame grew, Star Wars fans took note.
“This guy is about to be US senator,” wrote one. “The dude knows about Grand Admiral Thrawn. Let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Wrote another, “A nerd in the Senate!!!”
This guy is about to be US Senator.
The dude knows about Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
— Joe O. (@joeo423) January 6, 2021
Imagine telling him that in 2021 he would win a senate seat and Thrwan would be in a live action Star Wars TV show! Dreams do come true!
— Impeach Trump Again (@CardsFan922) January 6, 2021
Also in 2012, Ossoff tweeted at the music publication Pitchfork that he was “looking forward to your writeup of the new Imagine Dragons album,” leading one Twitter user to crack, “Hmmm already having mixed feelings about putting you in government sir.”
Hmmm already having mixed feelings about putting you in government sir.
— Brendel (@Brendelbored) January 6, 2021
Mr Ossoff what is your opinion of Greta Van Fleet, and specifically what did you think of Pitchfork’s review of their album Anthem of the Peaceful Army https://t.co/OtEFB3ijVO
— Matthew Zeitlin (@MattZeitlin) January 6, 2021
First Pitchfork-reading Senator?
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) January 6, 2021
this is sarcastic yall no one looks forward to a pitchfork review
— Carly 🌙 (@CarlyTargaryen) January 6, 2021
honestly i’d vote twice for john ossoff if i lived in georgia and he was @’ing pitchfork to review Sublime’s Robbin’ The Hood
— Conor Rosenthal 🌹 (@ConorWthOneN) January 6, 2021
Ossoff’s fellow Georgian Josie Duffy Rice pointed out that the senator-elect has a personal connection with the band.
“Lolol as this tweet spreads some context here is that Jon graduated high school with the drummer from Imagine Dragons. Daniel Platzman!” she wrote. “This sounds like a set-up for a joke but it’s true.”
Lolol as this tweet spreads some context here is that Jon graduated high school with the drummer from imagine dragons. Daniel Platzman! This sounds like a set up for a joke but it’s true. https://t.co/jIYxBf7p3U
— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) January 6, 2021
Pitchfork’s music reviews editor wrote back on Wednesday to apologize for never reviewing the album in question.
“Mr. Ossoff, sir, I am sorry we never wrote up the new Imagine Dragons album,” Jeremy D. Larson wrote. “This is hard to explain but during this era of the site, we thought it would ‘say more’ about the album when we didn’t review it? Does that make sense? Good luck with everything.”
Mr. Ossoff, sir, I am sorry we never wrote up the new Imagine Dragons album. This is hard to explain but during this era of the site, we thought it would “say more” about the album when we didn’t review it? Does that make sense? Good luck with everything. https://t.co/M06TPvzqQJ
— Jeremy D. Larson (@jeremydlarson) January 6, 2021
Other Ossoff tweets revealed he has a sense of humor and understands internet slang. He tweeted “n00b 4 lyfe” in 2014, and self-referenced that tweet recently in response to a tweet from his fellow senator-elect, Rev. Raphael Warnock.
Ossoff in 2014:
Ossoff’s response to Warnock in 2020:
He’s also familiar with the game Grand Theft Auto 3, writing in 2014 that a certain song, “immediately reminds me of a radio station in GTA3.”
He also seems to be an anime fan, sharing a link to a video of an anime version of Les Misérables.
And even back in 2012, he was smart enough to know that the internet is forever, writing, “I was going to link to a Lil Jon song but I don’t want someone to ask why I linked to profanity in 15 yrs.”
@ablaze I was going to link to a Lil Jon song but I don’t want someone to ask why I linked to profanity in 15 yrs so instead I wrote this.
— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) October 31, 2012
Ossoff and Warnock will be sworn in as Georgia’s newest senators sometime soon, but the date is still up in the air and depends on when the state certifies its election results.
Source by www.cnet.com