U.S. Senate freshman David Perdue will keep Georgia’s decades-long tradition of holding a slot on the Senate Agriculture Committee, one of five committees Perdue will sit on next year.
Senate Republicans’ announcement of committee positions today also showed soon-to-be senior senator Johnny Isakson atop the Veterans Affairs and Ethics committees, though the committee members still must confirm his expected pair of chairmanships for the 114th Congress.
Isakson’s ascension was long-diagrammed: North Carolina’s Richard Burr was ahead of him in seniority on Veterans Affairs, but Burr is to take over the Senate Intelligence Committee chairmanship.
Perdue said during the campaign that he wanted Agriculture, which is Georgia’s largest industry. Retiring U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss once chaired the committee, which — aside from a six-year hiatus in the 1980s — has had a Georgian serving on it since 1957.