Johnny Isakson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2014 | |
| United States Senator fromGeorgia | |
| In office January 3, 2005 – December 31, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Zell Miller |
| Succeeded by | Kelly Loeffler |
| Chair of theSenate Veterans Affairs Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – December 19, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Bernie Sanders |
| Succeeded by | Jerry Moran |
| Chair of theSenate Ethics Committee | |
| In office January 3, 2015 – December 19, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Barbara Boxer |
| Succeeded by | James Lankford |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's6th district | |
| In office February 23, 1999 – January 3, 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Newt Gingrich |
| Succeeded by | Tom Price |
| Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 21st district | |
| In office January 11, 1993 – January 6, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | William F. English[1] |
| Succeeded by | Robert Lamutt[2] |
| Minority Leader of theGeorgia House of Representatives | |
| In office January 10, 1983 – January 11, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Herbert Jones Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Paul Heard |
| Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives | |
| In office January 10, 1977 – January 11, 1991 | |
| Preceded by | Charles W. Edwards |
| Succeeded by | Lynda Coker |
| Constituency | 20-Post 1 (1977–1983) 21-Post 2 (1983–1991) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Hardy Isakson (1944-12-28)December 28, 1944 |
| Died | December 19, 2021(2021-12-19) (aged 76) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | University of Georgia (BBA) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1966–1972 |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Unit | Georgia Air National Guard |
Isakson honors Georgian businessman and political operative T. Rogers Wade Recorded February 15, 2011 | |
John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as aUnited States senator fromGeorgia from 2005 until his resignation in 2019 following health concerns.[3] A member of theRepublican Party, he previously served in theGeorgia legislature and theUnited States House of Representatives.
Born inAtlanta, Georgia, Isakson served in theGeorgia Air National Guard (1966–1972) and graduated from theUniversity of Georgia. He opened a real estate branch for Northside Realty and later served 22 years as the company's president. After a failed bid for theGeorgia House of Representatives in 1974, he was elected in 1976. He served seven terms, including four as minority leader. Isakson was the Republican candidate forgovernor of Georgia in1990, but lost. Two years later, he was elected to theGeorgia Senate and served one term. He unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary in the1996 U.S. Senate election.
After6th District Congressman andSpeaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich resigned, Isakson ran in theFebruary 1999 special election to succeed him, winning by a 40-point margin. He ran for the U.S. Senate in2004 afterDemocratic incumbentZell Miller opted not to run for re-election. With the backing of much of Georgia's Republican establishment, he won both the primary and general elections by wide margins. He became the senior senator from Georgia whenSaxby Chambliss retired in 2015. On December 31, 2019, midway through his third Senate term, Isakson resigned from the Senate due to health concerns and was succeeded by fellow RepublicanKelly Loeffler who was appointed byBrian Kemp, the Republican Governor of Georgia, to fill the vacant seat. He died two years later on December 19, 2021.
Isakson was born on December 28, 1944, inAtlanta, Georgia, the son of Julia (née Baker) and Edwin Andrew Isakson, aGreyhound bus driver,[4] who later established an Atlanta real estate firm.[5] His paternal grandparents were ofSwedish descent, and his paternal grandfather was born inÖstersund. His mother was of mostlyBritish ancestry, and her family has been in the American South since the colonial era.[6][7]
Isakson served in theGeorgia Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972, leaving service as a staff sergeant.[8] Isakson enrolled at theUniversity of Georgia, where he became a member of theSigma Alpha Epsilon social fraternity.[9][10] Shortly after graduating from UGA, he opened the firstCobb County office of Northside Realty, a prominent Atlanta-area real estate firm that his father, Ed, helped to establish. Isakson became company president in 1979, a post he held for 22 years, during which Northside became the biggest independent real estate company in the Southeast and one of the largest in the United States.[11][better source needed]
In 1974, Isakson first ran for theGeorgia House of Representatives in an eastern Cobb County district and lost. He ran again in 1976 and won. He served seven terms in the House. He won re-election unopposed in 1984[12] and 1988.[13] In his last four terms (1983–1990), he was the RepublicanMinority leader. In 1988 and 1996, he was co-chair for U.S. SenatorBob Dole's presidential primary campaigns.[14]
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Isakson was the Republican candidate forGovernor of Georgia in 1990. He won the Republican primary with 74% of the vote in a four candidate field.[15] In the general election, he was defeated byDemocraticLieutenant GovernorZell Miller 53%–45%.[16] His campaign was managed by Jay Morgan while Miller's campaign was managed byJames Carville. Miller ran on a pledge to start astate lottery and use the revenue forpublic schools. Isakson proposed aballot referendum on the lottery.[17]
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In 1992, Isakson was elected to theGeorgia Senate.[18]
In1996, Isakson ran in the Republicanprimary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Democratic U.S. SenatorSam Nunn. During his campaign, Isakson expressed his support for abortion rights in a campaign advertisement.[19] Isakson finished second in theprimary election with 35% of the vote, but the winnerGuy Millner, a millionaire businessman, failed to get a majority of the vote (receiving only 42%).[20] Therefore, per Georgia law, he was forced into a primaryrunoff election. Millner defeated Isakson in the runoff 53%–47%.[21] Millner lost the general election to DemocratMax Cleland.[22]
In December 1996, Isakson was appointed head of the State Board of Education by Gov. Zell Miller.[23]
In November 1998,6th District U.S. Congressman andSpeaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich faced a revolt in his caucus after the Republicans lost five seats in themidterm elections. Amid the turmoil, Gingrich announced on Friday after the Tuesday elections not only that he would not run for a third term as Speaker, but he would also not take his seat for an eleventh term beginning in January 1999. Isakson ran for the seat in aspecial election in February. He won the election with 65% of the vote, forty points ahead of the second-place finisher Christina Fawcett Jeffrey.[24]
Isakson won re-election to his first full term with 74.75% of the vote.[25]
Isakson won re-election to his second full term with 79.87% of the vote.[26]
During his tenure in the House of Representatives, Isakson served on theCommittee on Education and the Workforce, aiding President Bush in passing theNo Child Left Behind Act.[4] As a Representative, Isakson sponsored 27 bills.[27] He was a member of theU.S. House Education Committee.[28] In October 2002, Isakson voted in favor of theauthorization of force against the country of Iraq.[29]
In early 2003,conservativeDemocratic U.S. SenatorZell Miller—who had been appointed to fill out the term of the late Republican SenatorPaul Coverdell and elected to the post in his own right in 2000—declared his intention not to run for a full term in the Senate in 2004. Isakson immediately entered the race. He faced8th District U.S. CongressmanMac Collins and businessmanHerman Cain in the primary.[30]
It was initially thought Isakson would face a difficult primary since many socially conservative Republicans still felt chagrin at Isakson's declared support for abortion rights in 1990. However, he won the Republican primary with 53%, with Cain a distant second and Collins third, averting the need for a runoff. In the general election, he easily defeated the Democratic candidate,4th District CongresswomanDenise Majette, by 18 points. Isakson's election marked the first time in Georgia's history that both of the state's U.S. Senate seats had been held by Republicans, asSaxby Chambliss had won the other seat by defeating Nunn's successor,Max Cleland, two years earlier.[31][circular reference]
In 2010, Isakson was unopposed in the primary. He won re-election with 58.3% of the vote in 2010, defeating State Commissioner of LaborMike Thurmond.[32]
Isakson was re-elected to a third term in 2016 with 54.8% of the vote.[33]
As a senator, Isakson sponsored or co-sponsored 130 bills, just 8 of which became law.[34]
In 2010, Isakson apologized for referring to voters as "the unwashed" in off-hand comments, saying he "didn't mean anything derogatory by it."[35]
Isakson resigned from the Senate for health reasons on December 31, 2019.[36] He is the longest serving Republican senator in the history of Georgia.[37]
When compared to his Republican peers in the Senate, Isakson was close to center of his party; he was neither significantly more conservative nor liberal than his peers.[43]
During his U.S. Senate campaign in1996, Isakson expressed his support forabortion rights in a campaign advertisement.[19] In 2005, Isakson reportedly identified himself as pro-life with exceptions.[44] In March 2017, Isakson—who was recovering from back surgery—came to theU.S. Capitol in a wheelchair to vote to repeal anObama administration rule that had made it unlawful for states to bar abortion providers from receiving Title X funding. The Senate vote on the bill was 50–50, and Vice PresidentMike Pence cast a tie-breaking vote that allowed the bill to pass.[45]
In July 2019, Isakson was one of eight senators to introduce the Agricultural Trucking Relief Act, legislation that would alter the definition of an agricultural commodity to include both horticultural and aquacultural products and promote a larger consistency in regulation through both federal and state agencies as part of an attempt to ease regulatory burdens on trucking and the agri-community.[46]
In 2017, Isakson said that while he did supportconcealed carry nationwide, he did not supportcampus carry and stated that it is "not the appropriate thing to do."[47]
In February 2018, in response to theStoneman Douglas High School shooting, Isakson said, "We have to do everything we can within our powers to make sure it never happens again."[48]
Isakson voted against theAffordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and voted more than 60 times to repeal it.[49][better source needed]
In 2019, Isakson voted to support PresidentDonald Trump's national emergency declaration regarding border security.[50]
Isakson and his wife, Dianne, were married in 1968, and had three children.[51] His wife is awatercolor artist,[52] and served as honorary co-chair forMarietta's Theatre in the Square playhouse in 2007.[53]
In June 2015, Isakson disclosed that he had been diagnosed withParkinson's disease, but added that the diagnosis would not affect his 2016 re-election plans.[54] He continued his campaign and was elected in November 2016 to serve a third six-year term in the Senate. On August 28, 2019, however, Isakson announced that he would resign his Senate seat for health reasons on December 31, 2019.[55]
Isakson died at his home in Atlanta on December 19, 2021, nine days short of his 77th birthday.[56][57]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Zell Miller | 766,662 | 52.89 | −17.62 | |
| Republican | Johnny Isakson | 645,625 | 44.54 | +15.05 | |
| Libertarian | Carole Ann Rand | 37,367 | 2.58 | ±0 | |
| Majority | 121,037 | 8.35 | |||
| Turnout | 1,449,654 | ||||
| Democratichold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 256,595 | 74.75% | |
| Democratic | Brett DeHart | 86,666 | 25.25% | |
| Total votes | 343,261 | 100.00% | ||
| Turnout | ||||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 163,209 | 79.91% | |
| Democratic | Jeff Weisberger | 41,043 | 20.09% | |
| Total votes | 204,252 | 100.00% | ||
| Turnout | ||||
| Republicanhold | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson | 346,765 | 53.2% | |
| Republican | Herman Cain | 170,464 | 26.2% | |
| Republican | Mac Collins | 134,053 | 20.6% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson | 1,864,205 | 57.88% | +19.97% | |
| Democratic | Denise Majette | 1,287,695 | 39.98% | −18.22% | |
| Libertarian | Allen Buckley | 69,051 | 2.14% | +2.14% | |
| Majority | 576,510 | 17.90% | |||
| Turnout | 3,220,951 | ||||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 558,298 | 100.00% | |
| Total votes | 558,298 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 1,489,904 | 58.31% | +0.43% | |
| Democratic | Michael Thurmond | 996,516 | 39.00% | −0.98% | |
| Libertarian | Chuck Donovan | 68,750 | 2.69% | +0.55% | |
| Independent | Steve Davis (write-in) | 52 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Independent | Raymond Beckworth (write-in) | 24 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Independent | Brian Russell Brown (write-in) | 12 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Majority | 493,388 | 19.31% | |||
| Total votes | 2,555,258 | 100.00% | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 447,661 | 77.50% | |
| Republican | Derrick Grayson | 69,101 | 11.96% | |
| Republican | Mary Kay Bacallao | 60,898 | 10.54% | |
| Total votes | 577,660 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Johnny Isakson (incumbent) | 2,135,806 | 54.80% | −3.51% | |
| Democratic | Jim Barksdale | 1,599,726 | 41.04% | +2.04% | |
| Libertarian | Allen Buckley | 162,260 | 4.16% | +1.47% | |
| Total votes | 3,897,792 | 100.0% | N/A | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Sigma Alpha Epsilon has a rich history of Brothers who have served the United States in an elected office, but few as many times as Johnny Isakson (Georgia '66). He holds the distinction of being the only person elected to represent the state of Georgia in the state House (1977-1990, seven terms), state Senate (1993-1997, two terms), U.S. House (1999-2005, two terms) and U.S. Senate (2005-present, three terms).
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
| Georgia House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives from the 20th district, Post 1 1977–1983 | Succeeded by Joe Mack Wilson |
| Preceded by | Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives from the 21st district, Post 2 1983–1991 | Succeeded by Lynda Coker |
| Preceded by Herbert Jones Jr. | Minority Leader of theGeorgia House of Representatives 1983–1991 | Succeeded by Paul Heard |
| Georgia State Senate | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 21st district 1993–1997 | Succeeded by Robert Lamutt |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Georgia 1990 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromGeorgia (Class 3) 2004,2010,2016 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's 6th congressional district 1999–2005 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia 2005–2019 Served alongside:Saxby Chambliss,David Perdue | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Ethics Committee 2009–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Veterans Affairs Committee 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Ethics Committee 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
Chairs of theUnited States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs | ||
|---|---|---|
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
