Paul Collins Broun Jr. (born May 14, 1946) is an American physician and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus. 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 – a seat he contested once before in 2016 – coming in fourth. Early life and education 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. Broun is a graduate of Athens 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. Career Broun completed his medical internship at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon and residency at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. He then practiced general medicine; starting in 2002 he maintained a practice based solely on house calls. 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. U.S. House of Representatives Elections 2007 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