| August 28, 2019 10:58 AM
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Updated Aug 28, 2019, 11:32 AM
Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson announced he will resign from his position at the end of the year as he struggles with Parkinson’s disease.
Isakson, 74, has spent three terms in the Senate but announced that he will not complete his final one on Wednesday.
“In my 40 years in elected office, I have always put my constituents and my state of Georgia first,” Isakson said in a statement, according to AJC.
“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.”
The senator was diagnosed with Parkinson’s back in 2013 but didn’t disclose it until 2015 as he nearing an upcoming election. At the time of the announcement, he shared that his “main symptoms are the stiffness in my left arm and a slowed, shuffling gait.”
More recently, the Georgia senator fractured four ribs after he fell in his apartment, last month. He also said that he had surgery to remove a growth on his kidney.
He currently serves as the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs as well as the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and is the co-chairman of the Congressional Friends of Sweden Caucus.
Isakson’s decision to step down will force Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to appoint a temporary replacement setting up for an election next November. At that point, both Isakson’s vacated seat and Georgia Republican Senator David Perdue will be on the ballot. Democrats will likely target both seats now, seeing as Kemp won a tight election in 2018.
A spokesperson for failed Kemp challenger Stacey Abrams released a statement on Isakson’s announcement.
“Our thoughts are with Senator Isakson and his family. Leader Abrams’ focus will not change: she will lead voter protection efforts in key states across the country, and make sure Democrats are successful in Georgia in 2020,” it reads. “While she will not be a candidate herself, she is committed to helping Democratic candidates win both Senate races next year.”
Prior to Isakson’s time in the Senate, he spent time in both the Georgia House of Representatives, including time spent as the minority leader, and in the state Senate. He also won the Republican nomination for the Georgian gubernatorial race in 1990 but lost.
[Previous coverage: Isakson: Trump’s attacks on John McCain ‘drive me crazy’]
