WASHINGTON—Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens will address the Republican National Convention this month.
The RNC announced Olens among a list of speakers Wednesday, and he is the only speaker so far from Georgia. He was one of the few high-profile figures in the state to endorse Mitt Romney in the presidential primary, as much of the Republican establishment lined up behind the former U.S. House Speaker and Georgian, Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich won the Georgia primary, but Romney won the Republican nomination to face President Barack Obama.
Olens became an adviser to Romney on the Supreme Court case involving the 2010 health care law, as he was one of several state attorneys general to file suit against the federal government. Olens was with Romney when the Supreme Court announced its split decision.
The former chairman of the Cobb County Commission, Olens was elected attorney general in 2010, becoming the first Jewish candidate to win a statewide partisan race in Georgia.
Olens said in a phone interview that he plans to focus his remarks on the health care law and "other areas where there's a large federal overreach inconsistent with the Constitution."
The Supreme Court ruled the federal government can force people to purchase health insurance under its taxing power, but states can decide they do not want to participate in an expansion of Medicaid -- the health care entitlement that primarily serves the poor.
Romney has vowed he will move to repeal the law if elected.
"There's the issue that the majority of Americans still don't support the law and the issue that our country and states can't afford to pay for it," Olens said.
Kennesaw State University political science professor Kerwin Swint said Olens has set himself up for a bid for higher office through his outspoken fight against "Obamacare" and his reputation as easy to work with.
"He's turned heads as attorney general in just a little over a year or two, so yeah I think he's gotten some really nice attention and could have a future here in the GOP," Swint said.
The convention runs Aug. 27-30 in Tampa.
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