Republicans see Ossoff as one of the most vulnerable Democrats in 2026
Mobile billboards spotted outside the Masters Tournament and a Braves game this week called on onlookers to tell Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.) to “STOP DUNKING on Defenseless Girls.”
“Protect Girls’ Sports!” the billboards in Augusta and Atlanta read. They included the phone number for the Democrat’s congressional office.
The billboards accompany television ads that aired during the men’s and women’s Final Four basketball games and will run this week during the Masters tournament and Atlanta Braves broadcasts. The commercials center on Ossoff’s opposition to legislation that aimed to ban biological men from competing in women’s sports in federally funded schools. The bill passed the House in January, but died in the Senate last month.
“Protecting girls should be a layup for any politician, but Senator Ossoff voted to block the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” a voiceover says in the ad, which features a man wearing an “Ossoff” jersey dunking a basketball over a woman. “Man-to-man defense isn’t woke enough for Ossoff. He’s for they/them.”
The billboards and the ads—both paid for by the political wing of the Republican’s Senate Leadership Fund, One Nation—come as the GOP sees Ossoff’s seat as a top Senate target for 2026. Gov. Brian Kemp is weighing a bid, with a Club for Growth poll in January showing the Georgia Republican winning in a hypothetical match against the incumbent.
The ads carry a similar tone to commercials the Trump campaign ran last year, saying, “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”
After former vice president Kamala Harris’s decisive loss in November, including in Georgia, Democrats’ post-mortems frequently questioned whether their support for trans issues played a role. California governor Gavin Newsom (D.), an expected 2028 presidential candidate, recently said it was “deeply unfair” for biological boys to compete against girls—a reversal from his previous position.