Patricia Murphy: Trump’s Most Important Pick in Georgia

Former Sen. David Perdue could soon be packing his jean jacket for China, since Donald Trump nominated the former senator and CEO to be his ambassador in Beijing late last week.

It’s an incredible turn of events for Perdue, who lost two elections in two years, falling to Democrat Jon Ossoff in a heated 2021 runoff and then finishing more than 50 points behind Gov. Brian Kemp in an ill-fated 2022 primary challenge to Kemp that had been encouraged by Trump.

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Richard Fontaine, a foreign policy expert and the CEO of the Center for a New American Security, said Perdue generally meets the criteria of a solid ambassador pick.

“One question is, does he have experience on the issues he’s likely to encounter in the job? Also, does he have direct access to the President? And then the bonus is, if he has experience living in the region where he’s going to be operating,” Fontaine said. “Frankly, if you compare Perdue with some of the other people whose names have been floated for other ambassadorships, the contrast is fairly vivid.”

Read the full article on AJC POLITICS.