Michelle Nunn

Michelle Nunn

Democratic Party

Education

Bachelor's

University of Virginia

Contact

Personal website

float:right;
border:1px solid #FFB81F;
background-color: white;
width: 250px;
font-size: .9em;
margin-bottom:0px;

} .infobox p { margin-bottom: 0; } .widget-row { display: inline-block; width: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 1px; } .widget-row.heading { font-size: 1.2em; } .widget-row.value-only { text-align: center; background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.value-only.white { background-color: #f9f9f9; } .widget-row.value-only.black { background-color: #f9f9f9; color: black; } .widget-row.Democratic { background-color: #003388; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Republican { background-color: red; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Independent, .widget-row.Nonpartisan, .widget-row.Constitution { background-color: grey; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Libertarian { background-color: #f9d334; color: black; font-weight: bold; } .widget-row.Green { background-color: green; color: white; font-weight: bold; } .widget-key { width: 43%; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; vertical-align: top; font-weight: bold; } .widget-value { width: 57%; float: right; display: inline-block; padding-left: 10px; word-wrap: break-word; } .widget-img { width: 150px; display: block; margin: auto; } .clearfix { clear: both; }

Michelle Nunn was a 2014 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. She was defeated by David Perdue (R) in the general election.

Nunn won the nomination in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2014.

According to an analysis by The Washington Post, the U.S. Senate election in Georgia was considered one of the top 10 Senate races of 2014. Michelle Nunn consistently had strong polling and fundraising numbers.

One unique characteristic of the race was that neither of the major party candidates had held elected office before. From 1980 through 2012, there were only two elections like this--the 2010 Utah election between Mike Lee (Utah) (R) and Sam Granato (D) and the 2002 North Carolina election between Elizabeth Dole and Erskine Bowles. In both elections, the inexperienced Republican beat the inexperienced Democratic candidate.

Nunn is the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn (D).

Biography

Nunn was born in 1966 in Macon, GA. She graduated from the University of Virginia.

Issues

Avoiding stances

Nunn was criticized by some, including MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski, Chuck Todd, and Roll Call's Stuart Rothenberg, for refusing to take positions on issues. Rothenberg reported that Nunn was hesitant "to take positions and is extremely cautious."

Nunn declined to say whether she would support Harry Reid remaining as Senate Majority Leader, or whether she thought President Obama was doing a good job. Politico wrote "while she's critical of the president's failure to control the deficit, she offered few clues on how she'd tackle the vexing issue." Stuart Rothenberg added that Nunn was among several candidates running in challenging states "trying to hide as much as possible and as long as possible so that they can avoid – or at least delay – answering tough questions about issues and, in the [case of Nunn], about the president."

Harry Reid

Nunn was secretive about her potential vote for Senate leadership on August 25, 2014, saying that, if elected, she would vote for the leader who would best get things done--rather than confirming her support for Harry Reid as the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Keystone XL pipeline

On April 7, 2014, Nunn stated that she would support completion of the fourth phase of the Keystone XL pipeline in the name of economic development and national security.

“I have a lot of friends who have different perspectives on Keystone. We need to continue to focus on green energy and finding sustainable sources of energy, but I do believe we should move forward with Keystone,” Nunn said.

Affordable Care Act

Nunn declined to state whether she would have voted for Obamacare had she been in the Senate.

Elections

2014

See also: United States Senate elections in Georgia, 2014

Nunn was a 2014 Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Georgia. Nunn won the nomination in the Democratic primary on May 20, 2014. David Perdue (R) defeated Nun and former Flowery Branch City Councilwoman Amanda Swafford (L) in the general election.The general election took place on November 4, 2014.

U.S. Senate, Georgia General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	David Perdue	52.89%	1,358,088
	Democratic	Michelle Nunn	45.21%	1,160,811
	Libertarian	Amanda Swafford	1.90%	48,862
Total Votes				2,567,761
Source: Georgia Secretary of State

One unique characteristic of the race is that neither of the major party candidates had held elected office before. From 1980 through 2012, there were only two elections like this--the 2010 Utah election between Mike Lee (Utah) (R) and Sam Granato (D) and the 2002 North Carolina election between Elizabeth Dole and Erskine Bowles. In both elections, the inexperienced Republican beat the inexperienced Democratic candidate.

U.S. Senate, Georgia Democratic Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michelle Nunn	75%	246,369
Steen Miles	12%	39,418
Branko Radulovacki	9.7%	31,822
Todd Robinson	3.4%	11,101
Total Votes		328,710
Source: Georgia Secretary of State

Media

Michelle Nunn's first campaign ad, "Optimist."

Michelle Nunn's second campaign ad, "What's Going On."

Michelle Nunn's third campaign ad, "Point Guard."

• Nunn released her first ad, "Optimist," on April 3, 2014. The ad, an introductory spot, did not mention the Democratic Party and instead emphasized her centrist, problem-solver image with a photo of her with George H.W. Bush. In the ad, Nunn stated that she was running for Senate because she was “optimistic about Georgia’s future.”

• Nunn released her second ad of the campaign, "What's Going on," on April 22, 2014.
  • In the ad, Nunn said, “What’s going on in Washington has to stop. Politicians fighting and bickering and too often forgetting about the people they’re supposed to represent. That’s why I’m for banning members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists. I don’t think congressmen should get paid unless they pass a budget. And no one in Congress should get a subsidy to pay for their own health care.”

• Nunn's third ad of the campaign, "Point Guard," released on April 27, 2014, featured her father, former United States Senator Sam Nunn.
  • In the biographical ad, Nunn said she followed her father’s footsteps into basketball but not politics. The ad was another attempt by Nunn to introduce herself to voters ahead of the May 20 Democratic primary.

WaPo top 10 races

According to an analysis by The Washington Post, the U.S. Senate election in Georgia was considered one of the top 10 Senate races of 2014. Michelle Nunn had a strong fundraising run in the third quarter of 2013.

Endorsements

• EMILY's List, a group focused on electing Democratic women who support legalized abortion, endorsed Nunn on August 26, 2013. The group’s president, Stephanie Schriock, said Nunn could help Democrats hold the Senate by winning in the red-leaning state, where a crowded field of candidates is vying for the Republican nomination.
  • “She’s tied for the lead in the polls in one of our only chances to win a GOP Senate seat. It’s important that we elect a Democratic woman like Michelle, but it’s just as important that we keep her right-wing, extremist opponents out of the Senate,” Schriock said in a fundraising email to supporters.

• Nunn received a cross-party endorsement and $5,000 donation from former Sen. Richard Lugar's PAC, Lugar's political action committee, the 19th Star PAC, in December 2013. Lugar worked with Nunn's father in the Senate.

• Former Sen. John Warner (R-VA) contributed $500 to Nunn's campaign and attended a fundraiser for her in November 2013.

She also received endorsements from:

• Stacey Abrams, Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives
• Roy Barnes, former Governor of Georgia
• Jack Bernard, former Chairman of the Jasper County Republican Party and the Jasper County Commission
• Lisa Borders, former President of the Atlanta City Council, co-founder of No Labels, President of the Henry W. Grady Health System Foundation
• Jason Carter, State Senator
• Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States, former Governor of Georgia
• Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator (D-GA)
• Shirley Franklin, former Mayor of Atlanta
• Gordon Giffin, former United States Ambassador to Canada
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
• Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)
• Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
• Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator and father of Nunn
• State Senator Nan Orrock
• Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta
• Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, former U.S. Representative, former UN Ambassador
• Arthur Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot, owner of the Atlanta Falcons
• Dikembe Mutombol, former Atlanta Hawks player
• Carole King, Grammy award winning singer and songwriter

Polls

General election (August 2014-Present)
Poll	Michelle Nunn (D)	David Perdue (R)	Amanda Swafford (L)	Undecided	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Marist October 31, 2014	44%	48%	3%	4%	+/-3.3	1,099
CNN/ORC October 19-22, 2014	47%	44%	5%	4%	+/-3.5	1,009
SurveyUSA October 10-13, 2014	48%	45%	3%	4%	+/-4.2	800
Landmark (R) October 7-9, 2014	45.7%	46%	3.9%	4.4%	+/-3.1	1,000
Rasmussen Reports September 15-16, 2014	41%	46%	4%	9%	+/-4	750
Landmark Communications September 9-11, 2014	46%	43.4%	6.4%	4.2%	+/-2.9	1,109
Atlanta Journal-Constitution September 8-11, 2014	38%	44%	6%	10%	+/-4	884
Survey USA September 9-8, 2014	44%	47%	5%	4%	+/-4.2	558
GaPundit.com August 24-25, 2014	44.74%	43.09%	7.41%	4.75%	+/-2.47	1,578
Landmark Communications August 20-21, 2014	47%	40%	0%	10%	+/-4.0	600
Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected]

General election (August 2013-August 2014)
Poll	Michelle Nunn (D)	David Perdue (R)	Amanda Swafford (L)	Undecided	Margin of Error	Sample Size
SurveyUSA August 14-17, 2014	41%	50%	3%	6%	+/-4.2	560
Insider Advantage August 12-13, 2014	40%	47%	8%	5%	+/-3.7	719
Hicks Evaluation Group August 8-10, 2014	42%	48%	0%	11%	+/-3.48	788
Vox Populi Polling July 27-28, 2014	40%	49%	0%	10%	+/-3.9	624
Landmark Communications July 25, 2014	47%	43%	0%	7%	+/-3.8	750
Rasmussen Reports July 23-24, 2014	40%	46%	0%	10%	+/-4.0	750
Public Policy Polling July 9-12, 2014	48%	41%	0%	10%	+/--	516
SurveyUSA June 3-5, 2014	38%	43%	0%	14%	+/-3.2	999
Rasmussen Reports] May 21-22, 2014	45%	42%	0%	6%	+/-4.0	750
Landmark Communications May 19, 2014	45%	44%	0%	11%	+/-3.0	1,000
Saint Leo University May 5-6, 2014	37%	41%	0%	15%	+/-4.0	689
Atlanta Journal Constitution May 5-8, 2014	41%	45%	0%	13%	+/-4.0	1,012
NBC News/Marist Poll April 30 - May 6, 2014	45%	44%	0%	9%	+/-1.9	2,608
Landmark/RosettaStone March 23-24, 2014	33%	0%	29.5%	37.5%	+/-4.0	600
Public Policy Polling August 2-5, 2013	40%	40%	0%	21%	+/-4.3	520
Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to [email protected]

Campaign finance summary

Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Nunn is the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn (D).

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for "Michelle + Nunn + Georgia +Congress "

Michelle Nunn News Feed

See also

• United States Senate elections in Georgia, 2014
• United States Senate elections, 2014
• Georgia
• United States Senate

External links

Suggest a link

• Michelle Nunn for Congress

• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
• Profile at Wikipedia
• Fact-checking at PolitiFact
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Works by or about Michelle Nunn in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The Huffington Post