The Board of Commissioners honored Sen. Johnny Isakson with a proclamation at today's BOC meeting for more than four decades of dedicated service to the state of Georgia and Cobb County. He holds the distinction of being the only Georgian ever to have been elected to the state House, state Senate, U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

Sen. Isakson has always been a friend to the county. In December 2016, the roadway commonly known as the Johnson Ferry Bridge, was officially named “U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson Bridge” in honor of the senator’s career in public service. 

Sen. Isakson entered politics in 1974 and served for 17 years in the Georgia legislature in both the House and Senate. He was elected in 1999 to the U.S. House for the first of three terms. In 2004, he was elected to his first term in the U.S. Senate, and he won re-election in 2010 and 2016.

He has served on five key U.S. Senate committees in the 116th Congress. He was selected to serve as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. As a veteran, his continued service as chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs was a priority. He has long been focused on improving the quality and timeliness of care at Department of Veterans Affairs health facilities across the country. Sen. Isakson has served on the Ethics Committee since 2007, including as chairman of the committee since 2015 and as vice chair of the committee from 2009 until 2014. Sen. Isakson also served as a member of the Senate Committees on Finance, Foreign Relations and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, where he worked to shape foreign policy as well as health care, tax and fiscal policies that help more Americans succeed. 

Sen. Isakson graduated from University of Georgia in 1966 and served in the Georgia Air National Guard from 1966 to 1972. He began his successful business career in 1967 when he opened the first Cobb County office of a small, family-owned real estate business, Northside Realty, which grew into the largest independent residential real estate brokerage company in the Southeast and one of the largest in America.

He and his wife Dianne reside in Marietta and attend Mount Zion United Methodist Church, where Isakson previously taught sixth grade Sunday school for 30 years.

He is a fine example of a true leader and patriot.