David Perdue | |
---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2016 | |
United States Senator from Georgia | |
In office January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Saxby Chambliss |
Succeeded by | Jon Ossoff |
Personal details | |
Born | David Alfred Perdue Jr. December 10, 1949 Macon, Georgia, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse |
Bonnie Dunn (m. 1972) |
Children | 3 |
Relatives | Sonny Perdue (cousin) |
Residence(s) | Sea Island, Georgia, U.S. |
Education | Georgia Institute of Technology (BS, MS) |
Occupation |
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David Alfred Perdue, Jr. (/pərˈduː/; born December 10, 1949) is an American politician and business executive who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Perdue was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Georgia in 2022.
After 12 years as a management consultant, Perdue became the senior vice president for Reebok, eventually becoming CEO. He later joined PillowTex, a North Carolina textile company; the company went bankrupt and folded shortly after his departure in 2003.[1][2] He subsequently became CEO of Dollar General.
Perdue first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014, defeating Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn, daughter of former U.S. senator Sam Nunn. Perdue ran for reelection in 2020, losing to Democrat Jon Ossoff, a former investigative journalist and filmmaker, in a January 5, 2021, runoff election.[3] After the November 2020 presidential election, Perdue called for the resignation of Georgia's top elections official and claimed that there were unspecified "failures" in the election.[4] He later supported a lawsuit by Trump allies seeking to overturn the election results,[5] and falsely claimed during his 2022 gubernatorial election campaign that his 2020 Senate election was "stolen."[6][7][8]
Perdue was linked to the 2020 congressional insider trading scandal for allegations of STOCK Act violations. The basis was stocks he sold before the 2020 stock market crash allegedly using knowledge from a closed Senate meeting.[9] The U.S. Department of Justice closed its inquiry in mid-2020 without bringing charges.[10][11]
Perdue sought the Republican nomination in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election against incumbent Brian Kemp, and was endorsed by former president Donald Trump.[12] Perdue lost the primary to Kemp in a landslide.
Perdue parroted the ex-president's longstanding false claims that widespread fraud robbed Trump of a win in the 2020 presidential election
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