Govind Patel

Govind Patel, an Atlanta real estate broker lost by a vast margin in his race to win the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Senate from Georgia. He was one in a crowded field of eight Democrats and six Republicans vying to get their respective party nominations to compete in November and fill theseat vacated by former Senator Zell Miller.

Patel received only 2 percent of the vote in a Democratic primary that will see a runoff between former judge Denise Majette and businessman Cliff Oxford, both of whom got the most votes but could not make the 51 percent required to win the nomination.

Patel was the only candidate from either party born outside the United States. He came to this country in 1971. Currently, he heads MGR Internaitonal Realty in Lilburn, Ga., and his platform rested on three issues that he made into a campaign slogan –– “IOU,” standing for Immigration, Outsourcing and Unemployment. He took the position that illegal immigration must be stopped and that the influx of uneducated immigrants worked against national security. He also stood against outsourcing.

He has a master’s degree in electronics and has lived in Lilburn since 1986 with his wife Madhu.