Former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) Announced Tuesday that he will not run for the U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2022.
Why it’s important: The 2022 election will play a key role in determining which party controls the Senate after Republicans (including Perdue) lost two Georgia seats to Democrats during last month’s two rounds.
- Perdue ran in a narrower race against the now Sen. Jon Ossoff did what his incumbent Republican colleague, Kelly Loeffer, did against the now Sen. Raphael Warnock.
- Since Warnock ran in a special election, he will run for re-election in 2022. Loeffler and former Rep. Doug Collins are among Republicans who consider it a challenge.
What they say: “This is a personal decision, not a political one. I am sure that whoever wins the Republican primary next year will defeat the Democratic candidate in the general election for that seat and I will do everything I can to make that happen,” Perdue said in a communiqué.
- “As we saw in my November race, Georgia is not a blue state. The more Georgians vote, the more Republicans are. These two current liberal U.S. senators do not represent the values of a Georgian majority.”