Sen. Isakson retiring due to ‘mounting health challenges’

The office of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson announced Wednesday that due to health reasons, he will be resigning his seat with three years left in his term.

Here’s the message from Isakson, 74, an East Cobb Republican, who’s been rehabbing from a fall in his Washington apartment and has been battling Parkinson’s disease.

He also announced he had kidney surgery this week:

“After much prayer and consultation with my family and my doctors, I have made the very tough decision to leave the U.S. Senate at the end of this year. I have informed Georgia Governor Brian Kemp today that I will resign my Senate seat effective December 31, 2019.

“I am leaving a job I love because my health challenges are taking their toll on me, my family and my staff. My Parkinson’s has been progressing, and I am continuing physical therapy to recover from a fall in July. In addition, this week I had surgery to remove a growth on my kidney.

“In my 40 years in elected office, I have always put my constituents and my state of Georgia first. With the mounting health challenges I am facing, I have concluded that I will not be able to do the job over the long term in the manner the citizens of Georgia deserve. It goes against every fiber of my being to leave in the middle of my Senate term, but I know it’s the right thing to do on behalf of my state.

“I look forward to returning to Washington on September 9 when the Senate goes back into session. And after December 31, I look forward to continuing to help the people of Georgia in any way I can and also helping those who are working toward a cure for Parkinson’s.”

Isakson’s term ends at the end of 2022. Under Georgia law, the governor will appoint a successor until a special election in 2020.

That means both Georgia senate seats will be on the ballot next November. Republican Sen. David Perdue, the junior senator, has indicated he will be seeking a second term.

The winner of the special election for Isakson’s seat would serve two years, with that office then being up for a six-year term in 2022 elections.

Here’s the letter Isakson wrote to Kemp.

An East Cobb civic icon

Isakson was a pillar of the East Cobb business and civic community before he ever ran for public office. The founder and president of Northside Realty, Isakson was called upon by Cobb school superintendent Kermit Keenum in the early 1970s to help the district find land for a badly needed middle school and high school in fast-growing East Cobb.

As he noted in 2017 at the ribbon-cutting for the new Walton High School building (in photo above), the properties he located on Bill Murdock Road for what were to become Walton and Dodgen Middle School cost less than $5,000 combined.

He and his wife Dianne, whom he married in 1968, raised three children, who attended school in the Walton cluster. They have eight grandchildren and are members of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church on Johnson Ferry Road.

When Isakson was elected to the Georgia House in 1976, he was one of the first Republicans in what was becoming known as East Cobb to win public office. While in the lower house, he ran for governor in 1990 but lost.

Two years later, he won a seat in the Georgia Senate, where he served for one term, then left to run for the U.S. Senate. Isakson lost a GOP runoff to succeed the retiring Sam Nunn, who was followed by Max Cleland.

Serving in Washington

After U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced in 1998 he would not seek re-election, Isakson ran for and won the 6th District seat that includes East Cobb, serving until he won his first U.S. Senate term in 2004.

While in the Senate, Isakson has been chairman of the Veterans Affairs and Ethics committees.

In 2015, Isakson announced he had Parkinson’s disease, but ran for a third term the following year and won the general election with 54 percent of the vote.

He is the first Republican in Georgia history to win three U.S. Senate terms and is the only Georgian to be elected to the Georgia House and Senate, as well as the U.S. House and Senate.

Isakson also has served as chairman of the Georgia Board of Education.

Georgia has become a more competitive state politically since his last election. The 6th District seat that had been in GOP hands since 1979 was narrowly won by Republican Karen Handel in a special election in 2017 that was the most expensive race in U.S. House history.

But she lost last year to Democrat Lucy McBath. Statewide, Democrats ran close races, including governor.

A fiscal and social conservative, Isakson has been hailed for his moderate temperament and earned a reputation for working across the aisle during his political career.

Earlier this summer, Isakson led a bipartisan Senate delegation to Normandy to observe the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

Perdue has been a staunch and unapologetic defender of President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Isakson blistered the president for his comments about late Sen. John McCain, a close friend of Isakson, making good on remarks from the Senate floor he had made earlier that anyone who “tarnishes the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping.”

“I never worry about what I’m doing politically or practically in the Senate as long as I think I’m doing what’s right,” Isakson said in an interview on Georgia Public Radio.

In 2017, Isakson was named the East Cobb Citizen of the Year by the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

Isakson was unable to attend due to duties in Washington, but then-Chamber president David Connell remarked that “if you looked up a definition of a statesman and a public servant, you’ll see a picture of Johnny Isakson.”

Local, state, national reaction

McBath issued the following statement about Isakson Wednesday afternoon:

“Sen. Johnny Isakson’s last 4 decades in public service show his deep commitment to serving the people of Georgia and this country. He will be missed in our delegation & Sen. Isakson and his family are in my prayers.

Gov. Kemp’s office issued this statement with First Lady Marty Kemp, the daughter of a former legislative colleague of Isakson, that says in part:

“Georgia should be most thankful for is the high standard that Johnny held as a true gentleman, a fighter for his constituents, a trusted advocate for our nation’s veterans, and one of the greatest statesmen to ever answer the call of service to our country. Marty and I are forever grateful for the friendship that Johnny and Dianne have shown us over the years and wish them the very best in the years to come. I will appoint Senator Isakson’s replacement at the appropriate time.”

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Isakson’s former chief of staff and a possible appointee to fill his seat:

“I will be forever grateful that he was willing to take a chance on me in 2004 and that he has served as a mentor to me ever since. Whenever I am confronted with a tough decision, I often ask myself, ‘What would Johnny do?'”

New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, issued this statement:

“One of the many fine adjectives to describe Johnny Isakson is a word not used enough in the halls of Congress these days: kind. Not only is Johnny a diligent and successful legislator, he is one of the kindest, most thoughtful senators. Independent of any party or politics, everyone will miss Johnny.” 

We’ll add more reaction from elected officials and others as we get it.

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