Former Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue filed forms with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to indicate that he will again run for Senate in Georgia in 2022.
Perdue filed the statement of candidacy form with the FEC on Feb. 15. In addition to his own Perdue For Senate Political Action Committee (PAC), which raised nearly $42 million for the 2020 election cycle, Perdue listed former President Donald Trump’s PAC, Georgia Trump Victory, and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s PAC, Cruz Senate Victory 2020, as eligible “to receive and expend funds on behalf of my candidacy.”
#BREAKING: David Perdue just filed to run against Senator Raphael Warnock. Perdue’s old seat now held by Senator Jon Ossoff isn’t up for election again for nearly 6 years. Sen. Warnock’s seat is up for re-election in November of next year. pic.twitter.com/lDj8axfn06
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) February 15, 2021
He would run against Democratic Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, who won the runoff of a Jan. 5 special election against former Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Warnock is serving out the remainder of former Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term. Isakson retired at the end of 2019 due to health concerns. Perdue lost his original seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff in a Jan. 5 runoff.
Those elections gave Democrats control of the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tie-breaking vote. All four 2020 general election candidates shattered fundraising records. (RELATED: REPORT: Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff And Raphael Warnock Still Worried About Campaign Funds After Breaking Fundraising Records)
Some Georgia Republicans have blamed Trump for Perdue and Loeffler’s losses.
Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s top election official, said that Trump’s post-election claims of voter fraud “spark[ed] a Civil War within a GOP that needs to be united.” Trump attacked Georgia state Republican officials more than 40 times on Twitter between the Nov. 3 general election and the Jan. 5 run-off, without mentioning Warnock or Ossoff once.