Senator David Perdue (R-GA) speaks during a campaign rally as he runs for re-election at the Olde Blind Dog Irish pub in Milton, Georgia on December 21, 2020.
Al Drago | Reuters
Former Georgia Senator David Perdue said Tuesday that he is weighing an offer for 2022 to oust Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and announced it in a post on Twitter that indicated that the Republican businessman would try convert the race into a referendum on President Joe Biden.
“We can already see today the impending damage America will suffer from the Biden administration,” Perdue wrote in a statement attributed to him and his wife, Bonnie Perdue.
“For the next several weeks Bonnie and I will be carefully thinking about how we can best serve the people of Georgia,” added the ex-lawmaker.
Perdue submitted documents for a bid for 2022 on Monday. In his statement, he said this was “simply a necessary legal move” that would allow him to keep the option available.
Perdue and his Republican ex-Sen. Kelly Loeffler, also of Georgia, was defeated in a runoff last month that gave the Democrats effective control over the upper body of Congress. Perdue lost to Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., While Loeffler was defeated by Warnock.
Warnock, a pastor and the first black Senator from Georgia, is serving the remainder of the ex-Sen’s tenure. Johnny Isakson, a Republican who resigned on health grounds in 2019. As a result, Warnock will be put up for re-election in 2022, instead of the typical Senatorial six-year tenure.
Perdue’s 2020 Senate bid was overshadowed by allegations of misconduct related to his productive stock trading.
An investigation by the New York Times found that Perdue’s 2,596 deals in his first term accounted for nearly a third of the Senatorial deals reported in the past six years, raising ethical concerns. Perdue denied any wrongdoing. It is not illegal for senators to trade securities.
In his statement on Tuesday, Perdue reiterated a criticism he had often made of the election campaign, saying that Warnock and Ossoff were “two of the most radically liberal people to ever take a seat on the sacred soil of the United States Senate.”
“They don’t represent most Georgians fairly,” added Perdue, pointing to his advantage over Ossoff in the November election, where neither man received more than 50% of the vote.
Perdue received 49.7% of the vote versus 47.9% from Ossoff and sent the contest to the runoff, which Ossoff ultimately won. Ossoff defeated Perdue by a margin of 50.6% to 49.4%.
Perdue called the parliamentary elections in November “the best poll where Georgia is right now” and said that “Georgia is not a blue state”.
“More than 52% of Georgians rejected my opponent and the liberal democratic agenda,” wrote Perdue.
The ex-senator said it was imperative that Republicans regain a majority in the Senate “to have a balanced government.”
“Just like my runoff election determined the majority in the US Senate, this race in the Georgia Senate of 2022 will also determine the majority and again be the central race in America,” he said.
A Warnock spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Subscribe to CNBC Pro for the live TV stream, deep insights and analysis of how to invest during the next president’s term.
