Isakson to retire:

America

Republican Sen Johnny Isakson’s announcement Wednesday that he will retire at year’s end because of health problems instantly raised Georgia’s status as a must-watch 2020 battleground by ensuring both of its Senate seats will be on the ballot.

Isakson’s pending departure after more than four decades in Georgia politics gives Democrats a surprise opening in a Southern state where the GOP’s lock on statewide elections has shown signs of slipping. The state’s junior senator, Republican David Perdue, is already a top target as he seeks reelection for the first time next year.

Isakson, 74, said he is leaving the job he loves because “mounting” health issues, including Parkinson’s disease, are “taking their toll.” He won a third term in 2016 and would have faced reelection in 2022.

“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,” Isakson said in a statement . “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.”

The November 2020 ballot in Georgia will now include a special election for the remaining two years of Isakson’s term in addition to Perdue’s race for another six-year term.

It’s a doubly tantalizing target for Democrats who increasingly believe that Georgia, which has become less rural and less white in recent decades, stands on the verge of becoming a swing state after roughly two decades of leaning solidly Republican.

“Georgia is going to be a major decision maker in the reelection of Donald Trump and control of the US Senate now,” said Brian Robinson, a Republican political adviser in Georgia who served as communications director under former Gov. Nathan Deal. It’s an uphill battle for Georgia Democrats, who haven’t elected a governor or US senator since 1998. Bill Clinton was the last Democratic presidential candidate to win here, in 1992. (AP)