page_title: Michelle Nunn
section_title: 2014 U.S. Senate run
hierarchical_section_title: Michelle Nunn / 2014 U.S. Senate run
caption_attribution_description: English: During her campaign for the United States Senate election in Georgia, 2014, Michelle Nunn visits Athens, Georgia. Here she holds forth at the Little Kings Shuffle Club in downtown Athens, as part of kicking off a statewide fundraising effort for that day.
context_page_description: Mary Michelle Nunn is an American philanthropic executive and politician. Since 2015 she has been president and CEO of CARE USA, the American national member of CARE International, the humanitarian aid and international development agency. She was CEO of Points of Light, an American nonprofit organization, from 2007 to 2013, and is a member of its board of directors as of 2015. She had been an executive for the volunteer service organization since 1990, previously running the predecessor and member organizations Hands On Atlanta, City Cares, and HandsOn Network. Nunn was the Democratic Party nominee in the race for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat in 2014. She is the daughter of former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn. Nunn is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.
context_section_description: When Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia announced in January 2013 that he would retire after two terms, his seat—which had once been held by her father—became open. Though she was little known to voters, Democrats embraced the hope that Nunn, with her executive experience as well as family name, could make their party once again competitive in-state.  Democrats also hoped the demographics of the state were moving in their favor.
  On July 22, 2013, Nunn declared herself a candidate for U.S. Senate. (She was granted a leave of absence from her position with Points of Light.) She said: "Our opportunity is to define ourselves.... I think people are really tired of the mudslinging and the silliness [contemporary politics]."  Commenting on her public image, The New York Times said, "At 47, the cautious and cerebral Ms. Nunn is every bit her father's daughter, down to her owlish glasses and centrist message about curing dysfunction in Washington."  She raised more funds during the balance of 2013 and into 2014 than any Republican in the race. The contest garnered national interest since Democratic control of the Senate might depend upon it.
  On May 20, 2014, Nunn won the Democratic primary for the Senate seat with 75 percent of the vote. The Republican primary resulted in a July 22 runoff contest won by businessman David Perdue, a cousin of former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue.  This set up a race between two self-described political "outsiders" with well-known-in-state political family names, each seeking to reach moderate and independent voters.  Polls throughout the race indicated that it was close.
  Nunn's campaign was hurt by a leaked campaign memo from December 2013 which made frank recommendations on strategy for Nunn's path to victory in Georgia. It said that likely attack lines against Nunn would include that she was "too liberal" and "not a 'real' Georgian" and that she should make appeals to specific groups for support and funds, including Jews, Asian Americans, and members of the LGBTQ community. In turn, Perdue was hurt during the campaign by revelations that he had in the past been an enthusiastic supporter of outsourcing.
  Nunn's policy positions during the campaign emphasized her attempt to portray a moderate image and distance herself from the unpopular Obama administration. She declined to say whether she would have voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act had she been in the Senate but said that going forward, some aspects of it should be fixed rather than the whole law being eliminated.  She criticized Georgia's refusal to accept Medicaid expansion under the act. Following the start-up problems with the associated HealthCare.gov website, Nunn broke with the Obama administration and said that the individual mandate portion of the law should be delayed.  Nunn favored construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline and opposed the Obama administration's proposed cuts to defense spending. On the topic of same-sex marriage, Nunn said she personally favored it, but that the decision should be made on a state-by-state basis.  Nunn was endorsed by EMILY's List, a political action committee that assists pro-choice Democratic women with their campaigns.
  Nunn's stump speech emphasized an appeal to bipartisanship. She proposed that members of Congress should be forced to pass a budget each year or forfeit their pay, said there was blame on both sides for ongoing Congressional dysfunction, and declined to say whether she would support Harry Reid remaining as Senate Majority Leader. Nunn made her father a focal point, staging joint appearances with him at military bases and saying that she would emulate his bipartisan approach to legislating. She received support and donations from former Republican Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner, both of whom were close to her father, and support from former Georgia Senator and Governor Zell Miller, a Democrat who had endorsed Republicans over the previous decade.   However, the use by Nunn's campaign commercials of photographs of her with George H. W. Bush drew
caption: Nunn campaigning in Athens, Georgia in July 2014
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