Paul Broun

Broun was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Gertrude Margaret (née Beasley) and Democratic Georgia state senator Paul C. Broun (1916–2005), who represented Athens and the surrounding area from 1963 to 2001.

His paternal grandfather was a minister.

Paul Collins Broun Jr. (born May 14, 1946) is an American physician and politician who served as the U.S. representative for GA's 10th congressional district from 2007 to 2015.

He is a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus.

Broun is a graduate of Clarke Central High School and the University of Georgia at Athens (B.S., Chemistry, 1967) and earned his Doctor of Medicine (1971) from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.

Broun completed his medical internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon and residency at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

Broun had been raised as a conservative Democrat like his father, but became a Republican sometime in the 1980s.

He first ran for public office in 1990, challenging Democratic U.S. Congressman Richard Ray, of Georgia's 3rd congressional district.

Ray defeated him 63%–37%.

Broun ran again in 1992, but lost in the Republican primary to State Senator Mac Collins, 55%–45%.

Broun won five of the district's seventeen counties.

Collins went on to defeat Ray, 55%–44%.

In 1996, Democratic U.S. Senator Sam Nunn decided to retire.

Broun was one of six Republicans who ran for the Republican nomination in the race.

Broun finished fourth, with 3% of the vote.

Guy Millner, a businessman, finished first with 42% of the vote.

He won the run-off election against state representative Johnny Isakson, who had received 35% of the vote in the primary, then lost the general election to Democrat Max Cleland by one percentage point.

He then practiced general medicine; starting in 2002 he maintained a practice based solely on house calls.

In February 2007, Republican U.S. Congressman Charlie Norwood, of Georgia's 10th congressional district, died of cancer.

Broun had announced his candidacy before Norwood's death.

There was a special election open primary in June 2007, where candidates of all parties participated in the primary.

A candidate needed 50% to win outright, and there would be a run-off if no candidate earned it the first time.

Ten candidates filed: six Republicans, three Democrats, and a Libertarian.

State Senator Jim Whitehead was the only candidate with electoral experience, and was considered the frontrunner.

He was endorsed by U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss.

In the primary, Whitehead finished first with 44% of the vote.

Broun qualified for the run-off, ranking second with 21% of the vote, with only 198 votes more than third-place finisher James Marlow, a Democrat.

Broun won a plurality of just four counties: Oconee (47%), Jackson (42%), Oglethorpe (37%), and Morgan (31%).

In the runoff campaign, Whitehead angered some voters by failing to appear at a debate held in Athens and then by referring to his alma mater, the University of Georgia, as a "liberal bastion" that should be eliminated, save for the football team.

In the July 17, 2007 election, Broun upset Whitehead by a margin of just 0.8%, a difference of just 394 votes.

After the votes were certified, Whitehead declined to ask for a recount despite the narrow margin.

Broun won the counties in the Northern part of the district, while Whitehead won the counties in the southern part.

Broun's best two performing counties were Clarke (90%) and Oconee (88%).

Broun was challenged by Republican state representative and House Majority Leader Barry Fleming, who had endorsed Whitehead in the 2007 election.

Broun defeated Fleming in the July 2008 primary, 71%–29%.

He won every county in the district.

However, his weakest performance was in the Southeastern part.

He won counties like Richmond with just 52% and Columbia with just 58%.

Broun unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Saxby Chambliss in the 2014 election.

In 2020, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to represent GA's 9th congressional district – a seat he contested once before in 2016 – coming in fourth.