Westmoreland Endorses Graves in Runoff Election

(RANGER, GA) – On the heels of Tuesday night’s first place finish in the Special General Election, Republican Tom Graves, the leading conservative candidate for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, was endorsed today by fellow Georgian, Congressman Lynn Westmoreland.

“With his tested, proven, conservative leadership, Tom is the kind of leader we need in Washington,” said Congressman Westmoreland. “I know Tom well.  I recruited him to run for the State House in 2002 and he has a great track record of hard work in the Georgia General Assembly.   Like me, Tom is passionate about job creation, cutting taxes and promoting free market and private enterprise.   His unapologetic conservative philosophy will be a benefit to all Georgians in Washington and I look forward to serving with him once again.”

The two conservatives served in the Georgia House of Representatives together until Westmoreland was elected to Congress in 2004.

Graves earned 35.4 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s Special General Election which sent him into an expected June 8th Special General Election Runoff.  Winning 11 of the 15 counties and taking a close second place in the remaining four counties in Georgia’s 9th District, Graves leads his runoff opponent by 12 points heading into June 8th.

“It is an honor and a privilege to receive Congressman Westmoreland’s support,” said Graves. “He is a principled, conservative leader who passionately defends our Georgia values in Congress.  His support of our campaign is a big boost and I am proud to count him as our newest GA-9 Freedom Fighter.”

Graves was one of eight candidates in the May 11 special election in North Georgia. He credits his momentum and lead to his strong grassroots effort which involved making 11,403 calls and knocking on over 5,000 doors.  

Graves represented the 12th House District from 2003 until March 23, 2010.  Graves announced last May that he would seek the 9th District Congressional seat that was vacated by Congressman Nathan Deal, who is running for Governor.