Isakson, Johnny (1944-2021), served as a member of the United States Senate from 2005 to 2019. Isakson, a Republican, represented Georgia. Before joining the Senate, Isakson served in the Georgia legislature and in the U.S. House of Representatives.
John Hardy Isakson was born on Dec. 28, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia in 1966. From 1966 to 1972, he served in the Georgia Air National Guard. Isakson joined Northside Realty in Atlanta as a real estate agent in 1967. He became president of the firm in 1979 and held that post until he left the company in 1999.
Isakson began his political career in 1976, when he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. He remained in the House until 1990, winning reelection every two years. From 1983 to 1990, he was the leader of the House Republicans. He became the Republican nominee for governor of Georgia in 1990 but lost the election.
In 1992, Isakson was elected to the Georgia Senate, where he served until 1996. In that year, he ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate but did not win the election. Governor Zell Miller, who had been Isakson’s Democratic rival in the 1990 governor’s race, then appointed him to head Georgia’s Board of Education. Isakson remained in that post until 1999, when he won a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives. He was reelected to the U.S. House in 2000 and 2002. Isakson did not seek reelection to the House in 2004. He ran instead for a seat in the U.S. Senate and was elected. He was reelected in 2010 and 2016.
In Congress, Isakson was a supporter of tax cuts, cuts in government spending, and measures to protect the nation against terrorism. He was a coauthor of the No Child Left Behind Act, a 2002 law that regulated public education in elementary and secondary schools.
In August 2019, Isakson, who was suffering from a number of medical ailments, announced that he planned to retire from the Senate. He stepped down from his seat on Dec. 31, 2019. In January 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp named businesswoman Kelly Loeffler to fill Isakson’s Senate seat until a special election was held in November of that year. Isakson died on Dec. 19, 2021.
