Paul Collins Broun Jr. (born May 14, 1946)[1] is an American physician and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district from 2007 to 2015.

Broun unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Saxby Chambliss in the 2014 election.

[2][3] In 2020, he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to represent Georgia's 9th congressional district – a seat he contested once before in 2016 – coming in fourth.

[15][16] In the runoff campaign, Whitehead angered some voters by failing to appear at a debate held in Athens and then by referring to his alma mater, the University of Georgia, as a "liberal bastion" that should be eliminated, save for the football team.

[18] Broun was challenged by Republican state representative and House Majority Leader Barry Fleming, who had endorsed Whitehead in the 2007 election.

[24] In July, Broun won the Republican primary, defeating retired Army officer Stephen Simpson.

[25] A leaked video of a speech given at Liberty Baptist Church Sportsman's Banquet on September 27, 2012, shows Broun telling supporters that, "All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell.

"[26] In addition, Broun is a young earth creationist, and believes that the world is only a few thousand years old, and was created in six literal days.

In response to these remarks, coupled with Broun being on the House Science Committee, libertarian radio talk show host Neal Boortz spearheaded a campaign to run the English naturalist and evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin against Broun, with the intention of drawing attention to these comments from the scientific community and having Broun removed from his post on the House Science Committee.

Broun ran in a five-candidate Republican primary race with fellow Tea Party challengers Roger Fitzpatrick, Bernie Fontaine and Mike Scupin, against incumbent candidate Doug Collins, who held the 9th since 2012.

[32] In January 2013, at the beginning of the 113th Congress, Broun was one of a handful of House Republicans to not vote to reelect John Boehner as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; Broun instead voted for outspoken former U.S. Representative Allen West of Florida, even though West lost his bid for re-election in November 2012 and was no longer a member of Congress.

"[37] He also introduced a bill to ban the sale or rental of sexually explicit materials on U.S. military installations.

[46] Broun also voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and decries the high cost of the bill.

[48] Broun, in September 2008, voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which created the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or "TARP".

[50] Broun supported the October 2013 U.S. federal government shutdown, which was precipitated by a group of Republican members of Congress who sought to dismantle the ACA.

"[54] A video released by Broun's campaign in 2020 showed Broun shooting a rifle, offering to give away an AR-15 rifle "to one lucky person who signs up for email updates" from his campaign website, and warning that during the COVID-19 pandemic that Americans might need an AR-15 to shoot "looting hordes from Atlanta.

[55] Broun denied that the ad or the reference to "looting hordes from Atlanta" had racial undertones or might concern African-Americans.