Ron DeSantis picks up metro Atlanta congressman’s endorsement

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, just elected last year to metro Atlanta’s sixth congressional district, became the first Georgia political official to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his 2024 White House bid.

McCormick endorsed DeSantis ahead of the Florida governor’s expected campaign announcement, which will happen at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening on Twitter.

DeSantis was elected to his seat after defeating a candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Jake Evans, in the race’s Republican primary. He then defeated Democrat Bob Christian in the November 2022 general election.

Georgia’s 6th congressional district has been the electoral launching pad for the political careers of several of the nation’s most recognized political figures. Newt Gingrich, whose 1994 Contract With America campaign platform helped Republicans retake control of the U.S. House after 40 years of Democratic control, represented the district beginning in 1978.

Former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson also represented the district, as did Tom Price, who resigned the post to become Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Donald Trump administration. That led to a special election between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff in 2017, a campaign that become the most expensive Congressional special election in U.S. history as it would help determine control of the U.S. House.

Handel won that race, but lost the seat to Lucy McBath one year later, in 2018′s general election. Meanwhile, Ossoff used his congressional campaign’s national profile to launch a successful U.S. Senate bid in 2020.

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