In episode 62 of Conversate with Killer Mike, Killer Mike sits down with U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff at the Swag Shop, his Black-owned barbershop in Atlanta, for a conversation on Georgia’s 2026 Senate race. Ossoff talks about his opponent Mike Collins, corruption and Citizens United, oligarchy, Georgia’s healthcare crisis and Medicaid expansion, his fight against insurance companies, the bipartisan REPORT Act to crack down on child trafficking, and the legacy of his mentor John Lewis.
Welcome to the Swag Shop
KILLER MIKE: (00:00:09 – 00:02:26) Hey, welcome to the Swag Shop. This is Conversate with Killer Mike. My 2 co-hosts will not be joining me today as I’ll be joined by one person. We’re going to get to that. This is a Black barbershop. And Black barbershops is where I’ve always talked and heard politics talked in my community.
Not everyone agreed. Sometimes the yelling and screaming got loud, but at the end, there was always a sense of genuine connection, community, and a want for a better local community, whether that was the West Side Atlanta, the greater Fulton County, or the greater state of Georgia.
Today, I have the honor of having a sitting US senator come today, and it’s not the one you’re thinking about, the guy with the crazy hair who sat here before named Bernie. But it is a Jewish guy. He’s from Georgia. His name is Jon Ossoff.
I got a call about 5 years ago to come support a wiry, skinny little kid who had went to a school called Paideia that was pretty progressive. And he needed to win Georgia and he needed the Black vote to do it. And joining him, Senator Warnock, people like Keisha Lance Bottoms, I got on board and what I met was an authentic leader.
At the time he was skinny. He’s picked up some muscle now. He’s picked up some might. I’ve seen him stand on Capitol Hill. I’ve seen him challenge detractors. I’ve seen him fight for Georgians and fight for all citizens. I’m very glad that I took the time years ago to learn who he was.
I’m very glad that a few months ago my wife got the call at 9 in the morning, because if anyone knows me, that’s the bat line. Call Chase’s phone to say, “Hey, I’m going back out, we’re going to need you.” And I gladly accepted and said yes. And I was really happy to see this senator and our gubernatorial candidate, Keisha Lance Bottoms, get together to say we’re running together.
Part of the reason I want you to be here today is because I want you to hear a successful senator. I want you to hear someone who succeeded in taking his views to Washington and making sure his constituency is represented and making sure we’re protected.
I’m honored to have in the Swag Shop, a business that I own, that’s a Black business that services everybody, much like Alonzo Herndon’s business did. Very happy to have my U.S. senator here today. We have Jon Ossoff. Thank you for coming, man.
People are in here. They can clap if they want because everybody’s excited. No press. Just my staff, they came in today when they didn’t have to work. My producers are excited to be here and Jordan’s are excited to have you. Thank you for being here.
JON OSSOFF: (00:02:26 – 00:02:29) I’m excited to be here, Mike. Thank you for the opportunity. Good to see you again.
KILLER MIKE: (00:02:29 – 00:02:38) Good to see you always. I’m very happy that I met you early because you don’t want to meet Michael Jordan after he’s won some championships. You’d like to know him when he’s a rookie. But I met you when you were a rookie.
JON OSSOFF: (00:02:38 – 00:02:38) Yeah.
Staying Grounded: Exposing the Abuse of Power
KILLER MIKE: (00:02:38 – 00:03:06) And I met you when you were full of enthusiasm and wonder and want to do good. And most of the time I see that fade. Within the first 3 or 4 years. And there’s a hardened determination of I can, I must, I will still want the greater good. But there’s kind of a succumbing to the system and the weight.
You haven’t succumbed. You seem to be the same. I would argue even more hardened, though, in your joy and in your want to do good. What brings you to that versus just going with the system?
JON OSSOFF: (00:03:07 – 00:03:27) Mike, thank you again. And 2 things come to mind. The first is what I’m grounded in in terms of my values. What I am passionate about, and what I’ve been passionate about throughout my whole career, including before I ever ran for office, is exposing and stopping the abuse of power.
KILLER MIKE: (00:03:27 – 00:03:27) Yeah.
JON OSSOFF: (00:03:28 – 00:04:29) Before I ran for office, I led a company that investigated war crimes, human rights abuses, official corruption, organized crime for international news media. What we did was we exposed powerful people who were taking advantage of those without power. We exposed what powerful people did when they believed they were operating in impunity and in secret.
And that’s the same spirit that drives me and my work in the Senate. It’s why I’ve put so much effort into the investigations that I’ve led into corruption and civil rights abuses in federal prisons, defense contractors who abuse military families, the abuse of children in our foster care system. It’s because nothing makes me more upset than when powerful people who believe that they are invincible abuse that power and hurt people.
Mike Collins: The “Scandal Piñata”
KILLER MIKE: (00:04:29 – 00:05:54) This is an amazing moment of serendipity. I’ll tell people, when you’re shooting live, you never know what’s happening. As the senator is speaking, “Never Scared” is playing somewhere in the background. We don’t know where it’s coming from.
But truly, this is a moment where God just pops up to him, serendipity, because you’ve never been scared.
You have a pretty vicious opponent, and it’s alleged that even members of his cabinet have popped up on some white nationalist sites. His name’s Mike Collins. And you didn’t keep the white gloves on. You got out in the mud like a Georgia boy, and you said, you called a man a “scandal piñata.” And very short, concise description, but I don’t believe that politicians should be going into office carrying those type of scandals.
Georgia’s a state that’s roughly 30-some-odd percent Black. It is quickly growing with immigrants of other nationalities coming in. We’ve always managed to figure out a way to figure it out, whether it was William Hartsfield or Maynard Jackson, whether it was Lester Maddox or Joe Frank Harris.
I’m confident that you can, but it seems that working-class Georgians, both white and Black, seem to be apathetic this year, and I’m afraid they may sit home. And I don’t want them to sit home, especially on you and Keisha and down ballot. Collins has been accused of being associated with the wrong type of people. What do you say to his scandals and his accusations? And what do you say to Georgians in terms of who they vote for?
JON OSSOFF: (00:05:54 – 00:07:55) Yeah, and let me talk about Mike Collins for a second, then we’ll talk about apathy and the importance of the election. So I said “scandal piñata” because it’s like with Mike Collins, every time you shake him, more misdeeds fall out.
And it is tragic that in the state of Georgia, in the year 2026, a basic question in this Senate race is essentially, does white nationalism belong in the United States Senate? What Georgians deserve is a policy debate on skyrocketing healthcare costs, on this warmongering in the Middle East, driving up the price of gas, getting people killed, undermining our national security, on the tariff chaos that’s driving up the price of just about everything.
Instead, we have in Congressman Mike Collins somebody with extensive ties to white nationalism and neo-Nazi ideology. This man’s office, Mike Collins’ chief of staff, his top aide, was briefing Nick Fuentes and Richard Spencer, who organized that hate march in Charlottesville. His office was briefing some of the most notorious white supremacists in the country on their efforts in support of a Holocaust denier.
This man has literally had based at his home a neo-Nazi propagandist producing neo-Nazi propaganda and sending it out to the world from Mike Collins’ house. Still happening right now. It’s happening as we speak, as the man runs for the US Senate. And he himself has a long track record of bigotry. And this is deeper than political party. That is not who we are.
KILLER MIKE: (00:07:55 – 00:07:55) Yeah.
Apathy, Corruption, and Citizens United
JON OSSOFF: (00:07:56 – 00:09:10) Here in Atlanta, that is not who we are across the state of Georgia. And I think that the people are going to soundly reject Mike Collins’ bigotry. Now, as for folks feeling apathetic looking ahead at this election, here’s something I think we have to be clear about.
We see right now the president plunging the country into war. Taking away people’s healthcare to cut taxes for the rich, enriching himself to the tune of billions of dollars while he sits in the Oval Office. It’s an unprecedented level of corruption. But there are so many people who look at the political system and they see that corruption in American politics runs a lot deeper than Donald Trump.
Yeah, that especially since the Citizens United decision unleashed all this secret money, billionaire money, corporate money in the system on both sides that public policy has served the wealthy and well-connected and not the working and middle classes. And so that is what breeds this cynicism and this disillusionment. And we have to speak clearly to the fact that corruption in politics is not a problem of just one man or one political party. It’s a systemic problem we have to address.
Do We Have an Oligarchy?
KILLER MIKE: (00:09:10 – 00:09:12) Do we have an oligarchy in this country?
JON OSSOFF: (00:09:13 – 00:09:28) Unquestionably, we have a system where the wealthiest people, the best connected, increasingly control our national affairs. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to call that an oligarchy, the rule of the few.
KILLER MIKE: (00:09:29 – 00:09:29) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:09:29 – 00:09:44) And when you can buy political power, yes, the ordinary voter, the ordinary family doesn’t have a fair shot at their voice being heard, their interests being represented in the government.
Should Young People Run for Office?
KILLER MIKE: (00:09:45 – 00:10:22) Is the answer to breaking oligarchy active local engagement with citizens, with voters, with running? Because if the money is concentrated in the few, if the relationships are concentrated in the few— I went to a very prominent public school in Frederick Douglass, has created a lot of city council people, created a lot of mayor’s aides, created a mayor.
You went to Paideia, very exclusive private school. Connected, yet we’ve connected with people beyond the connections we had. Is the answer for young people to do like you, to run for office? You’re the youngest Democrat, correct? Or the youngest—
JON OSSOFF: (00:10:22 – 00:10:23) Youngest member of the Senate.
KILLER MIKE: (00:10:23 – 00:10:39) Youngest member of the Senate. Youngest senior member as well. And a Democrat in a Republican— in what had been known as a Republican state. So took a lot of bravery, took a lot of money too. So how important is running publicly, locally, to other Americans? Should they be doing that?
JON OSSOFF: (00:10:39 – 00:11:54) Look, whether someone runs for office or not, ultimately it is the people using their power that is the only remedy. And as citizens, it’s like our power is right there just waiting for us to pick it up and use it. But if we retreat into cynicism— and I get it, so many broken promises.
Folks were promised that tax cuts for the rich would create wealth for the working class. Folks were promised that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Folks were promised fairness, and then banks got bailed out while people left their homes. So many broken promises over so many years. I understand why people feel disillusioned and cynical about American politics. The only solution is for the people to use their power.
The Citizens United decision I mentioned earlier, it’s important that folks understand what this meant. This 2009 Supreme Court decision which held that corporations can spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns and they can do it in secret. And one of the things that gives me hope is that the country is so divided and polarized, right?
KILLER MIKE: (00:11:54 – 00:11:54) Yeah.
JON OSSOFF: (00:11:56 – 00:12:15) But who’s actually for that? Who— if we go to College Park or Albany or Savannah or Buckhead or anywhere in Georgia, we walk up to somebody and say, “Hey, should corporations be allowed to spend unlimited amounts in secret on politics?” Yeah, nobody’s for it.
KILLER MIKE: (00:12:15 – 00:12:15) Nobody.
JON OSSOFF: (00:12:15 – 00:12:24) So we should be able to unite people. Yes. And if it takes a constitutional amendment, yes. To fix it, then so be it. We should do that.
Why Georgians Shouldn’t Split Their Vote
KILLER MIKE: (00:12:24 – 00:14:16) Why isn’t that uniting happening? That’s a very interesting thing. You are who you align yourself with. I’ve seen a very conservative libertarian guy named Shelley Wynter here, black guy, and a friend of mine, genuinely. Shelley came off the bench and said, “I’m supporting Jon Ossoff.” And I’m like, goddamn, I might have won, Shelley. Finally gotten through to this guy, right?
And then he says, “But I’m going to split and I’m going to support Rick Jackson.” I’m like, s***, doesn’t make sense to me. Because if you look at Jackson and Collins, they’re sharing the same company. And if you share the same company, if you run with 10 liars, I gotta assume you’re the 11th. I don’t understand why we don’t get that polarization, or someone as intelligent as Shelley, because he’s my man 100 grand.
I think that one of the smartest things I saw during this election was you and Keisha say we’re running together. A vote for you is a vote for her. A vote for her is a vote for you. Because ideologically, I think that you guys are fighting against the same ideology. And I think that’s an ideology of oligarchy.
In terms of the polarization, tell people why they can’t split. They need to go. They need to go teamwork makes the dream work in this, in for the Democrats in Georgia, in my opinion. Because as much as you’ve gotten done in terms of insurance company, imagine what you could get done with Democratic governor, right? Imagine what you could have done with more Democrats. Penny Reynolds, I know, is running for secretary of state. Imagine what you could get done.
So, man, I’m having an imagination of, wow, this state could really get on track to be one of the most— because we already lead in business, we’ve done good, we’ve understood that. But in terms of taking care of our people while we take care of business, we could do better. And I think you guys could do better.
What needs to happen to the people who are polarized to unite? And I would say unite the Black and white working class, to be very honest with you, to get them to see a vote for Ossoff, splitting it with Rick’s not the move either. You need to get us in there to do the job.
Georgia’s Health Emergency and Medicaid Expansion
JON OSSOFF: (00:14:16 – 00:14:34) And with a Medicaid-expanding Governor Bottoms, we can make huge progress addressing our state’s health crisis. Yeah, because I said I understand why folks feel cynical and disillusioned. The flip side of that, Mike, is that both sides are not the same.
KILLER MIKE: (00:14:34 – 00:14:34) Yeah.
JON OSSOFF: (00:14:35 – 00:14:38) All right. When Raphael Warnock and I were elected.
KILLER MIKE: (00:14:38 – 00:14:38) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:14:38 – 00:14:43) One of the first things that we did was we fought the prescription drug companies.
KILLER MIKE: (00:14:43 – 00:14:43) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:14:43 – 00:14:45) To cap the cost of insulin for seniors.
KILLER MIKE: (00:14:46 – 00:14:46) Yes. Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:14:47 – 00:15:18) The first thing that Donald Trump and Mike Collins did when they got power was slash Medicaid to cut taxes for the rich. So let’s not get it twisted and act like, look, we need to acknowledge the system is broken. That does not mean that both sides are the same. It makes a difference who represents us.
And we need a Medicaid-expanding Governor Bottoms because here in the state of Georgia right now, if you are born today in the state of Georgia, your life expectancy is shorter than if you were born today in Lebanon.
KILLER MIKE: (00:15:19 – 00:15:19) No.
JON OSSOFF: (00:15:19 – 00:15:22) A country that’s been in a state of intermittent war for decades.
KILLER MIKE: (00:15:22 – 00:15:22) Yeah.
JON OSSOFF: (00:15:22 – 00:15:57) And our state’s economy— think about this. Is 40 times larger than Lebanon’s national economy. We’ve lost 21 hospitals in 20 years in Georgia. We have among the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, 3 times higher for Black women. We have among the lowest infant weight at birth. Half our counties have no OB-GYN.
It’s a full-blown health emergency here in Georgia. And it’s not like this is just the way it is or the way it has to be. It’s not like the solutions are mysterious. But we need a Medicaid-expanding governor.
KILLER MIKE: (00:15:57 – 00:15:58) Hey, amen.
JON OSSOFF: (00:15:58 – 00:16:01) So that we can save our hospitals and get people the healthcare they need.
Fighting the Health Insurance Companies
KILLER MIKE: (00:16:01 – 00:16:28) And then that isn’t just focused on the city of Atlanta. When you say governor, that’s focused on Putnam, that’s focused on the Hinesvilles, that’s focused on Savannahs, the Macons, the Middle Georgias. Thank you for saying that.
You have fought an amazing fight against insurance companies, and everybody feels like insurance companies at some point have kicked them in the ass when they have a car wreck. But insurance companies and policies you’re fighting for, for people to get their healthcare honors. Could you talk about that and what that fight has been like and what you’ve brought home?
JON OSSOFF: (00:16:29 – 00:16:43) Health insurance companies denying people the healthcare they need is one of the greatest injustices ongoing in the United States. It’s also the thing I think people are most furious about. People pay their insurance premiums for decades.
KILLER MIKE: (00:16:43 – 00:16:44) Yes, they do.
JON OSSOFF: (00:16:44 – 00:17:19) Then they get a cancer diagnosis, and instead of being able to fight the cancer, they have to spend months fighting their insurance company to get their cancer treatment covered. And it should be illegal. This needs to be banned. And it’s an ongoing fight. It’s not a fight where I can yet declare victory, but it’s a fight that I’m going to continue taking to the insurance companies.
And they didn’t— a lot of people thought that we would not be able to win in that fight against the drug companies trying to cap the cost of insulin for seniors. But we won. And this is another example, and I’m glad you talked about uniting people.
KILLER MIKE: (00:17:19 – 00:17:20) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:17:20 – 00:17:21) Behind their economic interests.
KILLER MIKE: (00:17:22 – 00:17:22) Absolutely.
JON OSSOFF: (00:17:22 – 00:17:24) Where there’s so many trying to divide us.
KILLER MIKE: (00:17:24 – 00:17:25) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:17:25 – 00:17:51) Because whether it’s secret corporate money in politics or insurance companies denying cancer treatment to a cancer patient. Yeah. Again, I ask the question, who’s for it? Yeah. We should be able to build a coalition that goes beyond political party, that unites people who have common economic interests and common health interests. And that, I think, is the path forward for our state.
Medical Debt and the Loss of Family Wealth
KILLER MIKE: (00:17:51 – 00:18:49) I have a friend named Keith. Keith is a white conservative man in his 60s. And Keith and I agree and disagree on many things. Keith is strict enough of the faith. I’m spiritual and willing to freely think about some things. But one thing we agree on is that we want what’s best for our children. We want them healthy. We want to leave something and have an opportunity for them.
And a lot of times when you start talking about sicknesses that go terminal, that are allowed to go too long, you’re not only talking about someone being sick or potentially dying, you’re talking about the wealth of a family being taken. The wealth of family, usually a house, usually just a piece of land to leave someone.
But we’re watching insurance companies as they deny people, not only allow people to go to the grave a few years earlier, we’re allowing people to be stripped of everything so that their children and their wives oftentimes, or their husbands, have to do a total restart. What does revamping insurance companies allow us to do in terms of economically? What does it allow families to save, and how would it allow families to be better?
JON OSSOFF: (00:18:51 – 00:19:16) Look, there is no reason in the richest country on Earth that any American should fear that if they get sick, they won’t be able to afford healthcare. Yes, that they will face medical debt, bankruptcy. Yes, foreclosure, economic ruin. We have the resources to make sure that every single American can get the care they need.
KILLER MIKE: (00:19:16 – 00:19:16) We do.
JON OSSOFF: (00:19:16 – 00:19:58) And for the insurance companies, again, to tell folks who are sick, yes, you’ve been paying your premiums, but you know what, we’re not going to cover the healthcare you need. And then they dare you to fight them while you’re sick.
And this is part of, I think, even more broadly, what people feel moving through the American economy right now and American society right now, like the corporate disrespect is suffocating. You’re nickeled and dimed at every turn. You work harder and harder, but the treadmill just gets steeper and faster. And it doesn’t have to be this way. And the way forward is to unite across party lines, across racial lines, to fight for the interests of people.
The REPORT Act: Cracking Down on Child Trafficking
KILLER MIKE: (00:19:59 – 00:20:31) So this gives me— we’re probably winding down to 5, but I want people to hear you. So I want my Republican, Libertarian, and Democratic people who are working class— if your granddad or dad put on a plaid shirt to go to work, you’ve ever seen overalls or denim, or the boots that you wearing ain’t for the rave that you’re going to, it’s so your f***ing toe doesn’t get broken because it’s steel at the tip of them— these questions I want you to hear the senator say.
You wrote a law across the aisle with Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee. What did that REPORT require tech companies to do?
JON OSSOFF: (00:20:31 – 00:20:35) Yeah, this is the REPORT Act. So this is a law to crack down on child trafficking.
KILLER MIKE: (00:20:36 – 00:20:36) Talk to me.
JON OSSOFF: (00:20:37 – 00:21:15) Big tech companies were turning a blind eye to evidence of child predators and child abuse online. And I wrote this bill, bipartisan bill, Republican and Democrat working together, passed it into law, forcing those big tech companies to report evidence of those predators to the authorities so those predators can be brought to justice and kids can be protected on the internet. And this was in part an outcome driven by the investigation that I ran into foster care in Georgia.
KILLER MIKE: (00:21:15 – 00:21:15) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:21:16 – 00:21:24) Which found that here in the state of Georgia, hundreds of children were likely sex trafficked while they were in the care of our state government.
KILLER MIKE: (00:21:25 – 00:21:25) Wow.
JON OSSOFF: (00:21:25 – 00:21:33) Shameful and unacceptable. And that motivated me to write this bill and pass it into law to crack down on child trafficking.
Working Across the Aisle
KILLER MIKE: (00:21:34 – 00:23:01) I know that’s something that’s been Marty Kemp, who’s the wife of our governor. So to know that you’re willing to walk across the aisle and do that and to speak to Keisha, last week, and she had talked about working with— I can’t remember for the life of me what senators she worked with in terms of making sure Buckhead stayed in, making sure the airport wasn’t attacked.
I see a lot more from the Democratic side, and you two in particular, and Warnock, the will and want to publicly state I worked across the aisle versus people who are being dishonest. Because I’ve talked to Republicans too, and they say, “Well, Mike, I like— I know I can’t get a picture with you, but I’d like to talk to you about—” and when you know once I get in office, I’m not going to do all those things. But you’re saying you’re going to do those things.
And I felt like I got a little slow on Project 2025. I took it not as serious as I should, and I’m not going to make that mistake this time. This is very serious. You guys publicly are saying, I’ll walk across the aisle and I work with people. The people who are not saying that are not going to do that.
So I challenge the working class, white, Black, or indifferent, to know that I’m going to be trusting, and you should be trusting, the people who are saying outwardly, I’m willing to work across the aisle. You are going against a Trump-endorsed guy. I think it should be an easy win for you. I would like for people to vote down ballot.
Could you please tell people how important it’s going to be for you to have a constituent— I mean, to have a team or a coalition of people that you guys are going to march into the state Capitol, into Washington together and make sure Georgia gets the best?
Down the Ballot: Why Every Vote Matters
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:01 – 00:23:13) Well, let me say, first of all, Mike Collins is a disaster. He’s pro-war, he’s pro-tariffs, he’s pro-cutting your healthcare, and he’s a known bigot and Trump puppet.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:14 – 00:23:15) And a “scandal piñata.”
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:15 – 00:23:18) And a “scandal piñata.” But it ain’t going to be easy.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:18 – 00:23:19) Exactly.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:19 – 00:23:20) This race is going to be close.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:20 – 00:23:20) Yes, sir.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:20 – 00:23:26) This is still the tightest battleground state. Yes. In the country.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:26 – 00:23:26) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:27 – 00:23:29) And everyone’s vote is going to matter.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:29 – 00:23:29) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:30 – 00:23:32) And it’s going to matter not just in the Senate race.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:32 – 00:23:32) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:33 – 00:23:42) But as you said, in all those other races. Yes. Down the ballot. You want to talk about Medicaid expansion in the state of Georgia? We need to make a change in our state legislature.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:44 – 00:23:44) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:44 – 00:23:51) These state legislators who have refused to expand Medicaid, they go to steak dinners.
KILLER MIKE: (00:23:51 – 00:23:52) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:23:52 – 00:24:14) With the lobbyists who fund their campaigns. Cash those lobbyist checks while Georgia women are hemorrhaging in labor units across the state, while people suffer and die from treatable and preventable illness. It’s outrageous.
KILLER MIKE: (00:24:14 – 00:24:14) Yes, sir.
JON OSSOFF: (00:24:16 – 00:24:32) All of the needless suffering that has been forced on working-class Georgians just over this issue of refusing to expand Medicaid. Yes, you want to make a difference there, you got to elect a Medicaid-expanding Governor Bottoms, and you got to elect Democrats to the state legislature this year.
Knocking Doors and Getting Young People Involved
KILLER MIKE: (00:24:32 – 00:26:28) We know one thing for a fact: when the numbers show up, Democrats win. And you and Keisha are— she’s at a dead tie, you are a little ahead. But I don’t want to make the mistake I made the last time. I don’t want to assume everything is going to be okay.
I went out and voted, took a few other people out to vote, but I should have been trying to get 25 people out to vote like my grandmother who’s on the other side of my charm. She would personally be responsible for getting dozens of people out. I want to challenge Democrats on the other side of our cameras today to not only get $25 to these campaigns, your campaign, future campaigns. Let’s make sure a million Georgians are giving some money because I need people in the fields.
I’ll give you the same critique I’ve gave every Democratic candidate that I’ve talked to in the last 4 years. We need you guys back out in the neighborhood knocking on doors, connecting with the people. I know the internet— this is not a critique of your campaign as much as saying it’s a challenge to the DNC. It is a challenge who I think made a huge mistake not coming to Georgia. I wish you guys would have come to Georgia, and I hope you guys in the future will come to Georgia.
But door knocking is very effective on the side of town where I’m from. Side of town where I’m from helped send Carter to the presidency. Helped send Andy to Congress, has sent mayors there and helped get you there. We need doors knocking. We need young people engaged in politics. And sometimes the only way you get engaged in politics is by first being one of the kids just at the polls holding the signs. You get your $20 or $50, but you get interested in it.
And I want to see more Jon Ossoffs coming out of Paideia. I want to see more Courtney Englishes coming out of Frederick Douglass. And the only way we do that is to get young people on that AUC campus, Georgia State’s campus, Georgia Tech campus, and beyond to get them involved. The only way we do that is to get money to campaigns to make sure they have people to put in the fields.
How important is it to get young people out? How important is it to get extra people to the polls, not just going by yourself? How important is it to get $25, $26, $27 to these campaigns to make sure they can get field workers?
JON OSSOFF: (00:26:29 – 00:27:24) Young people will be decisive in this election, and I want to make it really clear to everybody listening that I don’t for a moment feel entitled to anybody’s support, and I don’t feel entitled to the seat. This seat does not belong to me. This seat belongs to the people.
And I’m asking people to get involved not for my sake, not for the sake of my career, not for the sake of the Democratic Party, but for the sake of our country and for the sake of our families. Because right now, people are suffering. Yeah, because corrupt politicians in Washington have made terrible decisions to serve their donors instead of serving the public.
300,000 Georgians have lost health insurance in the last 6 months. Insurance premiums have doubled for more than a million more, not because this is the way of the world, but because they sold you out.
KILLER MIKE: (00:27:24 – 00:27:28) Yeah, just again, not because this is the way of the world.
JON OSSOFF: (00:27:28 – 00:27:30) It makes a difference who represents us.
KILLER MIKE: (00:27:30 – 00:27:30) Amen.
JON OSSOFF: (00:27:31 – 00:27:43) And change doesn’t come from the top. Yeah, it takes a movement. People have to be ready to move. Again, not for me, it’s not about me, for each other and for the country.
The Legacy of John Lewis
KILLER MIKE: (00:27:43 – 00:27:56) You interned for John Lewis. I was a mentee of— so in the last 60 seconds of this, I would like the intern of John Lewis to give his spiel on what we’re going to be doing.
JON OSSOFF: (00:27:57 – 00:28:35) Look, I think about the congressman just about every day, and his portrait hangs above my desk in my Senate office. And even in his final months, the congressman always reminded us— you remember what he said? He said, “We all live in one American house. We all live in one world house.”
He called on us to see that our common humanity was the most important thing. Yes, he did. And right now, at a time of war and cruelty and corruption, we need to draw upon that spirit to inspire the people again.
KILLER MIKE: (00:28:36 – 00:28:36) Amen.
JON OSSOFF: (00:28:36 – 00:28:40) To feel and understand our power as citizens.
KILLER MIKE: (00:28:40 – 00:28:41) Yes, sir.
JON OSSOFF: (00:28:42 – 00:28:44) To get this country back on the right track.
KILLER MIKE: (00:28:44 – 00:28:44) Amen.
JON OSSOFF: (00:28:44 – 00:29:00) To get this world back on the right track. And to restore opportunity and hope and optimism here in Georgia and nationwide. And look, this election in Georgia is going to be the most important in the country. So we just happen to live in a place and at a time where what we do matters more.
KILLER MIKE: (00:29:00 – 00:29:00) Yes.
JON OSSOFF: (00:29:01 – 00:29:03) And the question is, what will we do with that?
Closing Thoughts
KILLER MIKE: (00:29:03 – 00:29:35) Absolutely. As both being students and mentees of him, I’m very proud to be of the same cloth of you. I’m very proud that such a man has imparted such wisdom that that wisdom won’t die. In office with you and just running around in the streets with me. Thank you for the work you’ve done.
I want to give your publicists more money and more power because I want all the good you’re doing to be talked about more, not less. Very proud of what you’ve done, what Warnock has done. I look very hopeful in terms of what you and Keisha are going to bring to the state. And I look forward to supporting you in whatever way you can, supporting people of Georgia.
JON OSSOFF: (00:29:35 – 00:29:36) Thank you, Mike.
KILLER MIKE: (00:29:36 – 00:29:42) I appreciate it so much. Thank you so much.
JON OSSOFF: (00:29:42 – 00:29:43) Thank you.
Why We Conversate
KILLER MIKE: (00:29:43 – 00:30:47) Thank you. Conversate. I just want to conversate, which I want to, I want to convert. Conversate is not a real word, but I encourage questioning. I want to encourage thought. I want to conversate. I want to have discussions with people that I may not agree with or that I may not understand. Understand and try to gain perspective. I think we all should be doing that.
We all should be in talk. We all should be in a constant state of talking because that’s what precedes organizing and mobilizing and revolutionizing and changing things. I believe in the power of conversation. I believe in conversation. So I’m here to talk. I’m here to talk, and I’m here to listen and learn. And I’m here to have people impress upon me different ways and thoughts and mentality.
I believe in conversations. I believe in jive talking and rapping. What do you call it? I’m a rapper. I’m rapping. But before rappers were rapping over beats for money, I want to exchange some respect with one another. So we’re going to conversate. We’re going to check it out.
JON OSSOFF: (00:30:48 – 00:30:49) Yeah.
KILLER MIKE: (00:30:49 – 00:31:11) Conversate with Killer Mike. Hey y’all, y’all got a question for my crew? You want to talk to me, Bear, Swiff, or anybody and ask them something? I want you to come check us out at conversatewithkillermike@gmail.com. Send your questions in, send your thoughts and concerns, and we’re going to make sure we get them up online where they’ll be discussed, talked about, and hey, we even might invite you on the show. Let’s conversate.
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