After a career of public service spanning more than four decades, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson announced in 2019 he would be retiring at the end of the year.
The Republican former real estate agency owner from East Cobb suffered continuing health issues during the year. In addition to his battle with Parkinson’s Disease, he fractured ribs during a fall at his Washington apartment.
He underwent rehabilitation at WellStar Kennestone Hospital said in August he could not complete his third term that ends in 2022.
Read the stories
- Sen. Isakson retiring due to ‘mounting health challenges’
- Editor’s Note: The admirable legacy of Johnny Isakson
- Isakson urges bipartisanship in farewell speech
Isakson, the first Georgian to serve in both houses of the state legislature and Congress, made bipartisanship and his role as the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman his hallmark.
Along the way, he endeared himself to colleagues in both parties, who paid tribute late in the year.
In a moving scene on the floor of the U.S. House, Democratic Congressman John Lewis of Atlanta hailed Isakson, who was sitting nearby in a wheelchair, and the two men warmly embraced.
In his final speech on the Senate floor, Isakson called his 15-year tenure in the U.S. Senate “the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
He implored his colleagues to “find a way to find common ground.” He said, “America, we have a problem,” but that “we can do anything” by dropping hard party labels. “Bipartisanship will be the way you accomplish things, the way you live.”
Earlier in 2019, Isakson lashed out against President Donald Trump for his criticisms of the late Sen. John McCain, one of Isakson’s closest friends.
Isakson said “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.”
In June, Isakson led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to France to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion during World War II.
Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Buckhead businesswoman Kelly Loeffler, a political novice, to succeed Isakson through the elections next November. The winner of a “jungle primary” then would fill the remaining two years of Isakson’s term.
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