When Donald Trump first reached out to David Perdue in the fall of 2014, neither man had ever met at length, neither was yet an elected official, and both were deeply frustrated with the direction of the country under President Obama’s leadership.

Perdue, a longtime business executive with no prior political experience, had recently defeated three sitting congressmen and Georgia’s former secretary of state for the Republican nomination and was battling a well-funded and highly-connected Democratic opponent in the race for the Peach State’s open Senate seat. In October 2014, Perdue traveled to Trump Tower and sat down with the man who would become the next president, kicking off what has blossomed into a powerful and enduring friendship.