David Perdue

David Perdue (born December 10, 1949, Macon, Georgia, U.S.) is an American business executive and politician who served in the U.S. Senate (2015–21), representing Georgia. He is a member of the Republican Party. In 2024 President-elect Donald Trump picked Perdue to serve as U.S. ambassador to China in his upcoming administration.

Perdue spent his early years in Warner Robins, Georgia. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned a B.S. (1972) in industrial engineering and an M.S. (1976) in operations research. Shortly thereafter, Perdue married, and he and his wife, Bonnie, had two children. He began working as a management consultant and held executive positions at a succession of large companies, including Sara Lee—for which he established the company’s first headquarters in Asia—Reebok, and Dollar General; at the last two he served as chief executive officer. He acquired a reputation for effecting successful turnarounds for ailing companies, though political opponents later charged that his methods included benefiting investors at the expense of employees.

In 2014 Perdue entered the U.S. Senate race, running as a Republican. Although he had no direct political experience—though his cousin Sonny Perdue was a former governor of Georgia—his campaign touted his skills in business as key to achieving a balanced budget and tax reform. He also supported term limits in Congress and the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Perdue trailed early in the Republican primary race but emerged as the winner in a runoff. In the general election, Perdue positioned himself as an outsider, pledging to not support the Republican Party hierarchy in Congress. He defeated his Democratic opponent, Michelle Nunn, and in 2015 he officially took office.

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As a senator, Perdue became known for his conservative views. He supported legislation to limit immigration and sought to ban same-sex marriage and abortion. In the 2016 presidential election, he backed Donald Trump, who ultimately won. Perdue subsequently became one of Trump’s biggest allies in the Senate. In 2017 he applauded the president’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, and he helped pass a massive tax reform bill. That year he also voted to repeal the PPACA, though the effort failed. In 2019 Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives over allegations that he withheld aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into opening a corruption investigation into Joe Biden (in 2020 Biden became the Democratic presidential nominee, and he subsequently won the presidential election). In the Senate trial the following year, Perdue voted not to convict Trump, and he was acquitted in a largely party-line vote. Shortly thereafter the United States faced the COVID-19 global pandemic. Although Perdue initially downplayed the seriousness of the virus, it was later revealed that he made several advantageous stock trades that resulted in allegations of insider trading. These developments came as he faced a tough reelection bid. In the 2020 election neither Perdue nor his Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, won at least 50 percent of the vote, resulting in a runoff on January 5, 2021, which Perdue lost.

In December 2021 Perdue announced that he was running for governor of Georgia, and he received Trump’s endorsement. However, his campaign failed to gain momentum, and he was defeated in the Republican primary the following year.