Candidate McCormick faces questions over endorsement count

Rich McCormick, the emergency room physician who narrowly lost a race last year to Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux in the 7th Congressional District, had planned to make another bid for the seat this year.

But then the General Assembly used redistricting to turn the neighboring 6th Congressional District into a more enticing spot for Republicans, so this week McCormick announced that would be his campaign destination.

But the transition didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped.

While announcing his intentions for the 6th District, McCormick boasted that he had endorsements from 28 members of Congress.

His list included Georgia U.S. Reps. Rick Allen, Buddy Carter, Andrew Clyde, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jody Hice.

It was only off by four.

Carter is the only GOP member of the state’s U.S. House delegation to back McCormick in the 6th District, where several other Republicans are already running.

Representatives for Allen, Clyde, Greene and Hice said that while they supported his campaign last year against Bourdeaux, they had not endorsed him for the 6th District’s GOP primary.

Responding to questions about the claimed endorsements, McCormick’s campaign issued this statement from the candidate:

“All of the names listed on the release offered their encouragement and support for my campaign in the 6th District. If their intent wasn’t a full public endorsement, I’ll own that mistake as they talked directly to me. As a Marine, we were taught to be clear and own your mistakes. I’ll gladly do that here.”

AJC FILE Republican Rich McCormick, who lost a bid for Congress in 2020 in a competitive suburban Atlanta district, the 7th, is jumping to a new, more Republican congressional district, the 6th.