Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for December 20, 2021

On December 20, 1864, Confederate forces in Savannah retreated ahead of Sherman’s army, crossing over into South Carolina, four years to the day after South Carolina’s secession.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Former United States Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) has died. From the New York Times:

Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican who succeeded Newt Gingrich in the House of Representatives, and in 15 years in the Senate was a moderate conservative, often championing bipartisan cooperation, until his resignation for health reasons in 2019, died on Sunday at his home in Atlanta. He was 76.

His death was confirmed by the Isakson Initiative, which he founded to raise money for research into neurocognitive diseases.It did not specify a cause, but when he resigned, Senator Isakson had cited progressive Parkinson’s disease and surgery to remove a growth on a kidney.

Mr. Isakson made a fortune as a real estate executive before going into politics at 32. He served 17 years in the Georgia Legislature, lost a race for governor and another to succeed Senator Sam Nunn, a retiring Democrat who had been in office for 25 years. As a consolation, the governor named Mr. Isakson to head the state Board of Education. It seemed his political career was over.

But Mr. Gingrich, the mercurial House speaker from Georgia, was facing a revolt in his caucus over midterm election losses. He resigned as speaker and announced that he would not take his seat for an 11th term starting in January 1999. A month later, Mr. Isakson, well-liked in the state for his legislative and education work, won a special election and took Mr. Gingrich’s seat.

In 2003, another opportunity arose. Senator Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat and former governor, chose not to run for re-election. Mr. Isakson jumped into the race and easily defeated the Democratic candidate, Representative Denise Majette, for a Senate seat.

From the AJC:

In Congress, Isakson helped craft the No Child Left Behind education law and, later, its replacement. He worked to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, immigration policy and health care.

“If you had a vote in the Senate on who’s the most respected and well-liked member, Johnny would win probably 100 to nothing,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., an Isakson confidant, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2019. “His demeanor is quite different from what most people expect of politicians.”

“If all Republicans were like Johnny,” former Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, once said, “I would be a Republican.”

His first campaign was for Cobb County Commission in 1974. He lost, and not for the last time.

Isakson won a seat in the state House in 1976, as the rest of the state voted big for Democrat Jimmy Carter. He arrived at the Gold Dome along with fewer than two dozen Republicans.

“He was very amicable and approachable,” said state Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, who was floor leader for Gov. Joe Frank Harris when Isakson was minority leader. “He’s been the same to me whether or not he was in power or out of power, and I think that’s key when you’re consistent with how you carry yourself.”

Isakson’s reputation as a savvy dealmaker was cemented early in his D.C. tenure. He was months into his first Senate term when Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy, leaving the pension plans for some 91,000 Georgians on the line.

He quickly got to work on legislation allowing the carrier to stretch out payments on its pension plans. He negotiated with individual lawmakers even as he faced resistance from then-President George W. Bush and powerful congressional leaders who were opposed to special carve-outs for airlines as part of a broader pension overhaul.

From Greg Bluestein at the AJC:

He was the only Georgian to serve in both chambers of the Legislature and in Congress. He helped build the state Republican Party into the dominant power in the 2000s.

He was beloved on both sides of the aisle as a champion of the Isakson Way ideology that meant finding compromise where possible – and not vilifying his political adversaries when it was not.

But he might be most remembered for exemplifying his motto: “There are two types of people in this world – friends and future friends.”

For some, that was an empty promise. For Isakson, it was a way of life.

He was the Senate’s only “double chairman” for a time – leading both the Ethics and Veteran Affairs committees.

There was one more thing, Isakson added, he wanted on his epitaph:

“That he always worked for the best interests of the people,” Isakson said. “As long as that’s the case, I’m happy.”

From a statement by Governor Kemp:

“Georgia has lost a giant, one of its greatest statesmen, and a servant leader dedicated to making his state and country better than he found it.”

“Johnny Isakson personified what it means to be a Georgian.”

“Johnny was also a dear friend of Marty, the girls, and me — as he was to so many. He answered the call to public service many times over his career as a state legislator, minority leader in the Georgia House, chair of the State Board of Education, Congressman, and finally as Senator.”

“His work to champion our veterans, deliver disaster relief for Georgia farmers after Hurricane Michael, and always stand up for Georgia’s best interest in the U.S. Senate will live on for generations to come,”

“As a businessman and a gifted retail politician, Johnny paved the way for the modern Republican Party in Georgia, but he never let partisan politics get in the way of doing what was right.”

“Above all, Johnny was a wonderful father to his three children and a devoted husband to Dianne. Our family is sending our deepest condolences and prayers to the Isakson family, his former staff, and all lucky enough to call Johnny a friend. Georgians across our state join them in mourning the loss of one of our best.”

From WSB-TV:

“My senior year of college I got a diploma and a draft notice on the same day. I joined the National Guard, of which I’m very proud — I’m still a Guardsman to this day,” Isakson said during a 10-minute speech on the Senate floor paying tribute to his friend Sen. John McCain in August 2018 “I consciously did that because I wanted to do everything I could to stay here and get married.”

From the Associated Press:

“He was a great man and I will miss him,” John Isakson said.

President Joe Biden, who served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with Isakson, said in a statement Sunday that he and the late senator “found common ground built on mutual respect for each other and the institutions that govern our nation.”

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on Sunday referred to Isakson as “one of my very best friends in the Senate.”

“His infectious warmth and charisma, his generosity, and his integrity made Johnny one of the most admired and beloved people in the Capitol,” McConnell said in a statement.

State Attorney General Chris Carr was the former senator’s chief of staff. “When I was a young man just getting started in politics, I wanted to be like Johnny Isakson,” Carr said Sunday.

Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said “all of Georgia” grieves Isakson’s death. Warnock, who took over Isakson’s old seat after defeating Republican Kelly Loeffler in a January runoff, had a special connection to Isakson, who attended an annual service in honor of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. The church’s pulpit was King’s and later became Warnock’s.

Isakson’s “model of public service is an example to future generations of leaders on how to stand on principle and make progress while also governing with compassion and a heart for compromise,” Warnock said Sunday.