Ending

a whirlwind week, Peachtree City resident Lewis

Jordan announced last Wednesday that he would

abandon the possibility of running for the U.S.

Senate.

Though

his flirtation with running for such a major

political seat was over quickly, Jordan didn't

dismiss running for another office at some other

time if he is asked to do so. His main focus

after withdrawing from consideration, however,

was to spend some time with his family and wife,

Peggy.

Jordan

also made it clear that he would study another

possible run for public office very carefully.

Two

weeks ago, Jordan was contacted by several key

national Republican leaders who courted him about

running for the seat. Last Tuesday, Jordan

indicated that he planned to qualify for the seat

Wednesday when he returned to Georgia from the

Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

But

Wednesday Jordan announced that he was taking

himself out of the running, which allowed former

U.S. Senator Mack Mattingly to throw his hat in

the ring as the lone Republican candidate for the

non-partisan election in November.

Monday

afternoon, Jordan told The Citizen that he made

his decision based on family concerns and

concerns for the better of the party.

"It

was a personal and private matter I had to take

into account and I made the decision based on

what was best for my family," Jordan said.

"This happened very rapidly, but it was a

constant process of reevaluating factors."

There

was some concern about Jordan facing Mattingly,

also a Republican, in the special election

scheduled for November. That might have split the

vote, thus helping the current seat holder,

former Gov. Zell Miller, to win the seat easily.

When

he was contacted about the seat two weeks ago by

Republican leaders, Jordan had no idea he might

consider running. Until then, his only experience

with politics had been in the area of

fund-raising as he "helped get people

elected who I thought we could be proud of."

"It's

fair to say I have been a business person my

entire career and over the course of the years I

have become aware of the importance of having

good people in office," Jordan said.

"I've had no political aspirations. I've

just been going about my business until the phone

calls began to come in."

Those

phone calls indicated that Jordan's status in the

party has changed somewhat, at least in the eyes

of influential Republican leaders.

"With

so many people calling, I felt strongly urged to

at least consider it," Jordan said.

Jordan

is the founder of ValuJet airlines, now known as

AirTran. He is the largest shareholder of the

company to this day, and he also owns his own

consulting firm.

Jordan

and his wife, Peggy, have lived in Peachtree City

since 1993.

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