Johnny Isakson

Johnny Isakson
Official portrait, 2014
United States Senator
from Georgia
In office
January 3, 2005 – December 31, 2019
Preceded byZell Miller
Succeeded byKelly Loeffler
Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – December 19, 2019
Preceded byBernie Sanders
Succeeded byJerry Moran
Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – December 19, 2019
Preceded byBarbara Boxer
Succeeded byJames Lankford
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 6th district
In office
February 23, 1999 – January 3, 2005
Preceded byNewt Gingrich
Succeeded byTom Price
Member of the Georgia State Senate
from the 21st district
In office
January 11, 1993 – January 6, 1997
Preceded byWilliam F. English[1]
Succeeded byRobert Lamutt[2]
Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives
In office
January 10, 1983 – January 11, 1991
Preceded byHerbert Jones Jr.
Succeeded byPaul Heard
Member of the
Georgia House of Representatives
from Cobb County
In office
January 10, 1977 – January 11, 1991
Preceded byCharles W. Edwards
Succeeded byLynda Coker
Constituency20-Post 1 (1977–1983)
21-Post 2 (1983–1991)
Personal details
Born
John Hardy Isakson

(1944-12-28)December 28, 1944
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
DiedDecember 19, 2021(2021-12-19) (aged 76)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Dianne Davison
(m. 1968)
Children3
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BBA)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Air Force
Years of service1966–1972
RankStaff Sergeant
UnitGeorgia Air National Guard

John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia legislature and the United States House of Representatives.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Isakson served in the Georgia Air National Guard (1966–1972) and graduated from the University 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 the Georgia House of Representatives in 1974, he was elected in 1976. He served seven terms, including four as minority leader. Isakson was the Republican candidate for governor of Georgia in 1990, but lost. Two years later, he was elected to the Georgia Senate and served one term. He unsuccessfully ran in the Republican primary in the 1996 U.S. Senate election.

After 6th District Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich resigned, Isakson ran in the February 1999 special election to succeed him, winning by a 40-point margin. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 after Democratic incumbent Zell 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 when Saxby 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 Republican Kelly Loeffler who was appointed by Brian Kemp, the Republican Governor of Georgia, to fill the vacant seat. He died two years later on December 19, 2021.

  1. ^ "Our Campaigns – GA State Senate 21 Race – Nov 03, 1992". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  2. ^ "Our Campaigns – GA State Senate 21 Race – Nov 08, 1994". www.ourcampaigns.com.

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