David Perdue decides against 2022 Senate run

Former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) won't be pursuing a 2022 Senate comeback bid after all.

Perdue, who lost his Senate seat to Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) during Georgia's runoff elections in January, announced Tuesday that "after much prayer and reflection," he has decided not to run for Senate in Georgia in 2022.

"This is a personal decision, not a political one," Perdue said, adding that he will "do everything I can" to ensure the eventual Republican candidate wins the seat.

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The former Georgia senator had been considering challenging Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who in 2022 would be running for a full six-year term after completing the term of Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). In fact, Perdue recently filed paperwork to run, and a senior adviser confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was "leaning heavily toward" running.

Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) have also been considering running for the Senate seat, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, but they had reportedly been waiting to see what Perdue would do before making a decision.