Photos courtesy of Josh Brown, and the David Perdue campaign’s twitter account. – KtE

A former US Senator and now Republican primary candidate for 2022 Governor’s race made a stop in Polk County today.

Former Senator David Perdue is now seeking to unseat Governor Brian Kemp before a fall challenge from a Democrat (likely to be Stacey Abrams,) and was at the Polk County Republican Party meeting at Rockmart First United Methodist Church on Saturday morning.

Perdue didn’t get to stay long and only took a few questions after a brief campaign speech, but he did reiterate his belief the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump in 2020, and he would fight to make sure that would never happen again.

Despite his primary run against Perdue, he also told local GOP members that he believes he’s the only one who can beat Abrams in November – but that if he doesn’t win, he’ll do his part to support Kemp in his bid to serve a second term as Governor.

What Perdue wanted more than anything was to drive home the point that Georgia remains a stalwart toward maintaining traditional, conservative values that have dominated state politics for more than two decades.

Perdue was elected in 2014 to the U.S. Senate after being sworn in to serve in 2015, he lost his seat in 2021 to Senator Jon Ossoff. He previously was the CEO of Dollar General, and is the cousin of former Governor Sonny Perdue.

Alongside Perdue, State Rep. Trey Kelley stopped in as well to campaign as he faces a primary challenge in a re-shaped district that now includes a large portion of western Paulding County.

County Commission District 1 candidate James Vines was also at the meeting along with County Commission District 2 candidate Glenn Robinson. Vines got a chance to talk about the need to focus on litter problems in the county as part of his platform for change in local leadership. He’s running in a primary challenge against Commissioner Gary Martin.

Robinson is part of a four-way race in the GOP primary that includes incumbent Linda Liles, Ricky Clark and Perry Barrett.

The Polk County GOP meets bi-monthly.