MILNER – Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson shot down rumors that he will leave the Republican presidential race shortly after Super Tuesday.
“Well, it’s news to me,” Carson told reporters this evening after participating in an hour-long service at Rock Springs Church here in Georgia’s evangelical heartland. “They need to talk to me.”
His remarks came hours after the influential conservative radio host Erick Erickson posted this on Twitter:
Carson is scheduled to be in his home city of Baltimore when Tuesday’s election results are announced.
Carson's trip to Georgia came as his poll numbers in the Peach State hover below 10 percent.
He is almost sure to walk away from Georgia’s Tuesday primary with less than 20 percent of the vote, the threshold for winning any of the Peach State’s 76 GOP delegates. And his odds don’t look much better in most of the other states hitting the polls this week.
His standings in the polls, though, was not mentioned during Sunday evening’s service, during which Carson took the pulpit following 30 minutes of religious songs.
Carson did not discuss the other presidential candidates, nor did he ask the more than 1,300 at-capacity crowd for their votes this week.
He instead told his life story and how he found his faith, discussing red-meat issues such as gay marriage and religious freedom.
“We must be willing to stand up for God’s principles. We now live in a nation that is trying to exclude God and godly principles, and the only way they can do that is if they can get us to sit down and shut up. I don’t think we should sit down and shut up,” Carson told the crowd.
Carson supporters in the audience, many of whom belong to the church, said they were not concerned that he is trailing in the polls and planned to vote for him anyway.
“I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon,” said Sharon Heinzel, a 49-year-old church member from Griffin.
“He has a lot of supporters. I think if a lot of his supporters would continue to support him and not just give in to whoever has the higher numbers he may do better. Who knows what will happen when more candidates start backing out? Maybe his numbers will go up,” said Travis Peterson, a 35-year-old graphic designer who lives in Atlanta.
Others interviewed said they plan to vote for other Republican presidential candidates but that they were still interested in hearing Carson’s message.
Carson is not the first Republican presidential candidate to make a pit stop at Rock Springs Church, about an hour south of Atlanta. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also made appearances here last summer in their bids to woo the evangelical crowd here.
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