BREAKING: Former Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a millionaire businessman who was known as consensus builder, has died at 76, the Georgia governor's office says.
Isakson’s son John Isakson told The Associated Press his father died in his sleep before dawn Sunday at his home in Atlanta. John Isakson said that although his father had Parkinson’s disease, the cause of death was not immediately apparent.
The Marietta Republican had suffered health problems in recent years that left him frequently dependent on a cane or wheelchair. In 2015, while gearing up to seek a third term in the Senate, Isakson disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a chronic and progressive movement disorder that had left him with a noticeably slower, shuffling gate. Soon after winning reelection in 2016, he underwent a scheduled surgery on his back to address spinal deterioration.
“Let’s solve the problem and then see what happens,” Isakson said. “Most people who call people names and point fingers are people who don’t have a solution themselves.” Many observers chalked up the loss to Isakson not being tough enough on abortion. In the primary race, Isakson ran a television advertisement in which he said that while he was against the government funding or promoting abortion, he would “not vote to amend the Constitution to make criminals of women and their doctors.”He later changed his mind on the contentious issue. Isakson’s jump to Congress came about when in 1998 U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich decided not to seek reelection.
He was a lead negotiator in 2007 on compromise immigration legislation that President George W. Bush sought to push through Congress but ultimately abandoned after it met strong resistance from the right. Chambliss and Isakson were booed at a Georgia Republican Party convention that year when the immigration issue arose.
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