The recent death of Johnny Isakson has left a void in Georgia politics which may never be filled again.
Isakson was completely different from most elected officials at the state or national level in 2021. Yes, he was a Republican, but Isakson was not one to blindly put party affiliation higher than what he thought was right.
His non-confrontational approach earned him respect from both sides of the political spectrum, an act that is no longer appreciated or even desired.
We have the reached the point of you are either 100% in agreement with me or you are 100% wrong. It’s been a gradual turn but one that now leaves a sickening taste in the mouths of most. The politics of division are firmly here to stay and it is safe to say we need more people like Johnny Isakson.
After first being elected to the state House of Representatives, Isakson decided to go statewide in 1990 and launched a campaign for the Republican nomination for governor.
He would win that primary without a runoff despite three other candidates being in the Republican primary.
In the 1990 general election, Isakson faced Democrat Zell Miller who also survived a contested primary. Miller actually went to a runoff against former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young before claiming the Democrat nomination.
At the time it was all but impossible for a Republican to win statewide office in Georgia. Yet, Isakson mounted a respectable campaign and polled 45% of the general election vote. (Three candidates were on the general election ballot.)
Isakson later ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996 although he would eventually lose the GOP nomination to Guy Millner in a runoff.
From 1999-2005 Isakson served in the House of Representatives, easily winning election and then reelection on multiple occasions.
In 2004, Miller, Isakson’s former foe in the 1990 governor’s race, decided not to run for a full term in the U.S. Senate after he filled the unexpired term of the late Paul Coverdell. Isakson jumped into the race and won the GOP nomination against Herman Cain and Mac Collins without a runoff.
Isakson then easily won the general election against Congresswoman Denise Majette by 18 points. He would win re-election in 2010 and 2016.
When he resigned at the end of 2019 due to health reasons, Isakson was the longest tenured Republican senator in Georgia history. He would form the Isakson Initiative to raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s Disease.
As the political nature in our country continued to turn more divisive, Isakson kept a very low profile in his final years. He didn’t go on television bashing other politicians that he might have disagreed with. It never was his style and it certainly wasn’t going to become that way.
Isakson was a rare politician in that he truly cared about his constituents. He viewed elected office as a way to serve people and not as a way to add to the bitter nature of politics.
We need more people like Johnny Isakson, someone who understood that working with all sides was the only way to get things done. Perhaps it was Isakson, in his honest and humble nature, who summed himself up best:
“I am a regular guy and a regular Georgian and I am as proud as I can be of my country and my state.”
Well said, Mr. Isakson, well said.
Chris Bridges is a Covington News correspondent. Reach him at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.
