Republican Johnny Isakson, soon-to-be Georgia’s senior U.S. senator, is running for re-election. His decision will be made official by way of rally at the State Capitol on Monday, promoted relentlessly by Isakson’s campaign team throughout this week.
Earlier this year, many felt he was heading to retirement. That would have meant another bruising, crowded and expensive Republican primary of the Georgia saw this year. Instead, Isakson is announcing for a third term not too long before he’ll likely take the gavel as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Coming as 2014 election post-mortems are ongoing, it deals another blow to Georgia Democrats and their pining for revival. Since last Tuesday, internal sniping has marred coverage of the party’s coping effort. On one side are cohorts of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, on the other is state party chairman DuBose Porter and his backers. Their clashes and recriminations are noteworthy for two reasons.
First, Peach State Democrats will gather in February to elect or re-elect a chairman. Porter hasn’t voiced intentions one way or the other, but it seems sufficient to say there will be a factional gnashing of teeth when the time comes. Porter bested Reed when he won the chairmanship last year over the latter’s preferred candidate, former state Senator Doug Stoner. Now, however, Porter has an election cycle under his belt that was ultimately disappointing.
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