--- title: Sen. Johnny Isakson Retiring: 2 Georgia Senate Seats Up in 2020 description: Georgia Republican Senator Johnny Isakson will resign from his position at the end of 2019 due to his declining health. canonical: https://time.com/5663443/johnny-isakson-retiring-senate/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-08-28T16:25:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:37.593Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sen. Johnny Isakson Announces Retirement og:description: The vacancy gives Democrats another opportunity to pick up a Senate seat next year og:url: https://time.com/5663443/johnny-isakson-retiring-senate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f1ef42711551b3e/698a021a4ee2622ee93162c4/senator-johnny-isakson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Sen. Johnny Isakson Retiring og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sen. Johnny Isakson Announces Retirement twitter:description: The vacancy gives Democrats another opportunity to pick up a Senate seat next year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f1ef42711551b3e/698a021a4ee2622ee93162c4/senator-johnny-isakson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sen. Johnny Isakson Announces Retirement – Leaving 2 Georgia Senate Seats Up for Grabs in 2020 > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=78293a77-f031-4288-9da0-6bf6a3bad910&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Stacey Abrams Delivers Rebuttal to President Trump's State of the Union [Watch (HLS stream): Stacey Abrams Delivers Rebuttal to President Trump's State of the Union](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/y7QYOoQY.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2019-02-06. Stacey Abrams Delivers Rebuttal to President Trump's State of the Union_  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Aug 28, 2019 4:25 PM UTC  Johnny Isakson announced he is retiring from the U.S. Senate in December 2019, citing declining health. The Georgia Republican is pictured leading a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb.14, 2019. Johnny Isakson announced he is retiring from the U.S. Senate in December 2019, citing declining health. The Georgia Republican is pictured leading a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb.14, 2019. J. Scott Applewhite—AP  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Aug 28, 2019 4:25 PM UTC Georgia Republican Sen. [Johnny Isakson](https://time.com/5380937/john-mccain-senate-building-renaming/) will retire at the end of 2019 due to his declining health, he announced Wednesday. “In my 40 years in elected office, I have always put my constituents and my state of [Georgia](https://time.com/5654788/judge-georgia-election-system/) first,” the 74-year-old senator said in a statement. “With the mounting health challenges I am facing, I have concluded that I will not be able to do the job over the long term in the manner the citizens of Georgia deserve. It goes against every fiber of my being to leave in the middle of my Senate term, but I know it’s the right thing to do on behalf of my state.” Isakson said that he has been increasingly feeling the effects from Parkinson’s Disease, and simultaneously dealing with a fall in July and surgery to remove a growth on his kidney. His resignation will be effective Dec. 31, he said. Under [Georgia law,](https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2014/title-21/chapter-2/article-14/section-21-2-542/) Gov. Brian Kemp, will appoint a replacement who will serve until the 2020 election, when the state will elect a permanent successor. Kemp said in a statement that he will appoint Isakson’s replacement “at the appropriate time.” “No one embodies the heart and soul of Georgia more than Johnny Isakson,” Kemp said. Isakson’s resignation means that two Senate seats in Georgia are up for grabs in 2020, giving the Democrats another opportunity in their long-shot bid to retake the Senate. Immediately after the news broke, speculation began percolating about who Democratic party leadership would be able to recruit, with many pundits pondering whether this vacancy could convince [Stacey Abrams](https://time.com/5349541/stacey-abrams-georgia/) to jump into the ring. Abrams challenged Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election, narrowly losing. She declined to run for Senate in order to focus on voting rights efforts in 2020. Abrams however, quickly quashed the rumors. “Leader Abrams’ focus will not change: she will lead voter protection efforts in key states across the country and make sure Democrats in Georgia are successful in 2020,” her spokesman said in a statement. Isakson, who has served in the Senate since 2005 and chairs both the Veterans’ Affairs and the Select Committee on Ethics in the Senate, is respected on both sides of the aisle, and sentiments from his colleagues immediately began pouring in. “No one is more respected by the other members of the Senate than Johnny Isakson is,” said Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, citing their two decades of friendship. “I will miss his leadership and his advice when he leaves the Senate, but look forward to his continued friendship.” “Folks on both sides of the aisle are going to miss \[Senator Isakson\],” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner wrote on Twitter. “He’s a gentleman who’s spent his career looking for common ground and actually trying to accomplish something in Washington.” > [](https://twitter.com/MarkWarner/status/1166727125652725760) The news of Isakson’s resignation was preceded by a wave of retirement announcements from Republicans in the lower chamber. Earlier this week, Rep. Sean Duffy, who was elected to Congress in the Tea Party wave of 2010, said he was retiring next month to deal with a family situation. In total, [at least ten members](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-so-many-house-republicans-are-retiring-and-more-could-be-on-the-way/) announced in August alone that they planned to retire. ## Transcript We know by partisanship could craft a 21st century immigration plan. But this administration chooses to cage children and tear families apart. Compassionate treatment at the border is not the same as open borders. President Reagan understood this. President Obama understood this. Americans understand this and democrats stand ready to effectively secure our ports and borders but we must all embrace that from agriculture to healthcare to entrepreneurship, America is made stronger by the presence of immigrants. In Georgia and around the country People are striving for middle class, where salary truly equals economic security. But, instead, families hopes are being crushed by republican leadership that ignores real life or just doesn't understand it. Under the current administration, far too many hard working Americans are falling behind. Living paycheck to paycheck, most without labor unions to protect them from even worse harm. The Republican tax bill rigged the system against working people. Rather than bringing back jobs, plants are closing, layoffs are looming. Just a few weeks ago, I joined volunteers to distribute meals. To followed federal workers. They waited on line for a box of food and a silver of hope since they hadn't received pay cheques, making livelihood of our federal workers upon for political games is a disgrace. The shutdown was stunt engineered by the president of United State Wanted that to fight every tenet of fairness and abandon not just our people, but our values. So even as I'm very disappointed by the president's approach to our problems, I still don't want him to fail. But we need them to tell the truth and to respect his duties. And respect the extraordinary diversity that defines America. Our progress has always been found in the refuge, in the basic instinct of the America experiment to do right by our people. And with a renewed commitment to social and economic justice, we will create a stronger America. Together. Beaune a miracle is when by fighting for our shared values against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. That is who we are. And when we do so, never wavering, the state of our union will always be strong. Thank you and may God bless the United States of America. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5663443/johnny-isakson-retiring-senate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5663443/johnny-isakson-retiring-senate/"},"headline":"Sen. 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