ATLANTA (WRBL) — Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue released a statement saying he will not run for US Senate in 2022, NewsNation affiliate WRBL confirmed. 

The announcement comes after the longtime Georgia Republican filed a statement of candidacy just last week.

After losing the highly contested Jan. 5, 2021 runoff for U.S. Senate to Democrat Jon Ossoff, Perdue’s potential political future had been unknown. The Feb. 15 filing for the 2022 midterm election would have had Perdue facing off against Georgia’s other recently elected Democratic senator, Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Warnock had previously defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler for Georgia’s other U.S. Senate seat on the same Jan. 5 runoff. The Warnock-Loeffler race was to fill the final two years of the seat vacated when Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned at the end of 2019.

Now, Perdue has announced he will not run for office in the 2022 midterm against Warnock, releasing a prepared statement alongside his wife reading:

“Dear Friends, 

After much prayer and reflection, Bonnie and I have decided that we will not enter the race for the United States Senate in Georgia in 2022.  This is a personal decision, not a political one. I am confident that whoever wins the Republican Primary next year will defeat the Democrat candidate in the general election for this seat, and I will do everything I can to make that happen. As we saw in my race in November, Georgia is not a blue state. The more Georgians that vote, the better Republicans do. These two current liberal U.S. Senators do not represent the values of a majority of Georgians.

I am hopeful that the Georgia General Assembly, along with our statewide elected officials, will correct the inequities in our state laws and election rules so that, in the future, every legal voter will be treated equally and illegal votes will not be included. I will do everything I can to be helpful in this effort.

It has been the honor of my life to have represented the people of Georgia in the United States Senate.  Bonnie and I want to thank my fantastic staff and everybody in the state and around the country for all the help they have given us. May God continue to bless Georgia and the United States of America.

God Bless,

David and Bonnie Perdue”