Republican Sen. David Perdue became Georgia’s senior U.S. Senator in his first term when Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned the state’s other Senate seat late last year. He survived a primary challenge in June to run for in November against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Because it was a close race and Libertarian Shane Hazel took just over 2% of the vote, neither man earned 50%, forcing the runoff between Osoff and Perdue.
Ossoff, who was born in Atlanta, has never held public office, is described in his website bio as a “media executive, investigative journalist, and small business owner.” Since 2013, he has served as CEO of Insight TWI, a media company that says it produces “fresh, daring factual content and high-impact journalism.” Ossoff’s wife, Alisha, is an OB/GYN physician at a metro Atlanta hospital.
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Perdue, who turned 71 on Dec. 10, was born in Macon and grew up in Warner Robins. He earned a degree in industrial engineering and a master’s in operations research from Georgia Tech. Perdue and his wife Bonnie have been married for 46, according to his bio. They have two sons and three grandsons.
To help you know more about these two candidates hoping to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate, here is information about their lives and what they have said about the issues that News4Jax has gathered from their own websites and news reports. Below is what we learned about Ossoff and Perdue. Click to learn the same information about the candidates in the second U.S. Senate race: Kelly Loeffler and Raphael Warnock.
Sources for above material include: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fox News, the Washington Post, VoteSmart, Carolina Coast Online and the candidates’ own websites.