FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Former U.S. Sen. David Perdue stumped across metro Atlanta Tuesday with a high-profile Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The two campaigned together in Fayette and Cobb Counties, two areas Gingrich represented when he was in Congress more than 25 years ago. They also made a campaign stop in Gwinnett County.
Perdue is betting Gingrich’s voice still matters. Along the campaign trail, Gingrich wasted no time criticizing Georgia's sitting governor.
"Brian Kemp cost us control of the U.S. Senate," Gingrich told a crowd at the Fayette County GOP headquarters, overlooking the governor's lack of authority over the 2020 election.
Gingrich was one of the key Republicans who persuaded Perdue to take on Kemp in a divisive Georgia Republican primary.
The former House speaker is all-in on discredited conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged to elect Democrats.
They fueled the energy behind a north Georgia rally Saturday featuring former President Donald Trump – with Perdue as his star candidate – along with a message driving many Republican voters.
Those voters are planning to take that message to the polls.
"Did these candidates do what they needed to do to ensure fair and honest elections in Georgia? That’s going to be the question in this primary," said Angela Bean, a Fayette County GOP activist.
Perdue’s Trump-backed run has split Republican voters, many of whom say they are fans of Trump and Kemp.
"I’m undecided in the race. I wanted to come out and hear what David Perdue had to say. I think Brian Kemp’s done some good things while in office," said David Ballard, a Fayetteville attorney.
Other event attendees shared similar remarks.
"I think Kemp has done a really good job until this election fiasco came about," added Stoney Mathis, who also attended the event.
Gingrich wants to nudge undecided voters away from Kemp and toward Perdue.
"I'm delighted he’s running. I think this is a very important race," Gingrich told reporters.
Perdue said Trump may do what Perdue described as "a couple of tele-rallies" in the next few weeks on his behalf. But he said Trump hasn’t committed to any more in-person events in Georgia between now and the May primary.