Gov. Nathan Deal urged Georgians Tuesday to back Newt Gingrich's bid for president, holding a press conference Tuesday at the Capitol to tout dozens of new endorsements for the former House Speaker by officials statewide.

State Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams, R-Lyons, was among those endorsing the former House Speaker, as well as eight other senators, 25 house members and a slew of local city councilmen and school board members.

Gingrich's campaign said they had received more than 60 endorsements from Georgia officials in all, including those they had previously announced including five members of the Georgia Republican Congressional delegation.

Deal is chairman of Gingrich Republican campaign in Georgia. He made note Tuesday that the two served together in the U.S. House, and that he made his choice to back Gingrich in 2012 because he knew him personally "and knew what kind of candidate he could be."

"He is a man of ideas," Deal said. "But he is also a man willing to listen to your ideas."

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