A bar where Carter launched his political career

Since it was established in 1956 on the corner of North Highland and North avenues in the Poncey-Highland district of eastern Atlanta, Manuel's Tavern in Atlanta has drawn legendary Democratic leaders for six decades. Jimmy Carter, who would go on to serve as a Georgia senator and governor before being elected the 39th US president, chose the tavern in 1970 as the place to launch his Georgia gubernatorial campaign.

Owner Brian Maloof, son of namesake Manuel Maloof, said he met Carter dozens of times, adding that the Carters were neighbours at the Carter Center near the bar, along with Carter's wife, daughter, son and brother Billy.

• •General manager Steven Pitts recalled that Jimmy Carter and Manuel used to sit at the tavern's front window all the time, talking about politics and life and art
• •Photographed Democratic visitors to the tavern include Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry
• •Barack Obama visited too, passing the time throwing darts while waiting for an interview

The Maloof family behind the counter

The family story begins with Manuel's father, Gibran Maloof, who was born in the Qadisha Valley in northern Lebanon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and immigrated to the United States around the end of World War I. Gibran delivered mining supplies by oxcart monthly from Atlanta to Copperhill, Tennessee, taking orders along the way - a journey Brian Maloof likened to an early Amazon.

Gibran went on to buy the Tip Top Billiard Parlor by the Georgia State Capitol shortly before Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933, and ran it for three decades. When legislators discussed building Lake Lanier, a man-made reservoir in northern Georgia to supply Atlanta, he promptly bought land in the area.

Manuel Maloof entered local politics in the late 1970s and served decades in elected positions in DeKalb County before dying in 2004, aged 80. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary credited him with playing a central role in transforming DeKalb County from a Republican bedroom suburb into an urbanised Democratic stronghold.

A World War II Army Air Forces mechanic deployed to England, Manuel met his wife Dolly there and later modelled his tavern after British wartime pubs. The tavern's imposing wooden bar came from Gibran's Tip Top Billiard Parlor and survived a fire. After Manuel's death, his ashes were placed in a wooden cabinet high on the memorabilia-cluttered bar wall, marked with a pennant of the Lebanese flag.

Brian Maloof has said he never really viewed himself as the owner, calling himself more of a historical preservation manager.

Ossoff, Collins and the final debate

Into that setting comes the Georgia Senate race of 2026. Jon Ossoff, the 39-year-old incumbent Democratic senator, leads the polls against Republican challenger Mike Collins ahead of the November 3 midterms. Ossoff is the only Democrat in the chamber seeking re-election in a state that US President Donald Trump won in the 2024 election.

The two candidates met in the second and final debate before the November 3 vote. Collins opened by jabbing at Ossoff's reported but never confirmed presidential ambitions, declaring: "This is a race between Georgia and Georgetown".

Ossoff signalled his approach beforehand. "We're going to pick up right where we left off last week and ask him questions he refused to answer," he said, intending to keep Collins on the defensive. At the debate itself, Ossoff once again denied having presidential aspirations and reasserted his commitment to his Georgia constituency.

Regulars weigh the race

At the bar, patrons have their own scorecards. Caleb Scott, a policy writer who also works at a data collection centre, declared Ossoff the winner of the latest debate and said he was particularly interested in the senator's position on artificial intelligence governance.

Scott added that Georgia could lead the nation considering how many data centres are being built in the state.

The tavern remains a fixture of Atlanta Democratic life as Ossoff, leading the polls, and Collins head toward the November 3 midterm vote.