In 1986, as a U.S. Representative, Fowler defeated the incumbent Republican Sen. Mack Mattingly. Fowler distinguished himself as the junior senator from Georgia (Sam Nunn was the serving senior senator at that time) in a moderate and dependable fashion. Fowler's voting record was progressive on social concerns and moderate on economic and national security issues. Despite being ranked among the most effective first term senators, he lost a tough re-election bid in 1992 to Georgia State Senator Paul Coverdell (who would later become leader of the state's Republican party). Fowler bested Coverdell on election night 1992, but Georgia law does not allow for a winner who has won less than 50 percent (an absolute majority) of the total vote, and a United States Libertarian Party candidate had siphoned off enough votes to keep Fowler's total below 50 percent-plus-one. In a subsequent run-off two weeks later, Coverdell upset Fowler by a narrow margin. Fowler went on to serve as an ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001, during the Clinton administration. Today, Fowler is still remembered by Georgians as a public servant with impeccable ethical credentials and a progressive voting record.
Fowler distinguished himself as the junior senator from Georgia (Sam Nunn was the serving senior senator at that time) in a moderate and dependable fashion.
Fowler bested Coverdell on election night 1992, but Georgia law does not allow for a winner who has won less than 50 percent (an absolute majority) of the total vote, and a Libertarian Party candidate had siphoned off enough votes to keep Fowler's total below 50 percent-plus-one.
Fowler went on to serve as United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1996 to 2001, during the Clinton administration.
Fowler ran for city council in 1970 under the banner "Night Mayor Runs for Alderman." At age twenty-nine and still in law school, he won his first bid for office, defeating a thirty-year incumbent.
Fowler seemed to lack the same enthusiasm he had displayed in 1986, and some observers found the campaign devoid of a unifying theme.
The substantial federal money Fowler had brought to Georgia and the work he had done in the Senate on such issues as health care, education, jobs, intelligence reform, the environment, alternative energies, and historical preservation seemed to matter little in the absence of his own personal zeal for the campaign.
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