Lowery to endorse U.S. Rep. Johnson

Rev. Joseph Lowery will endorse U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson for Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District.

Johnson is running for a third term in the district, which represents most of DeKalb County and parts of Gwinnett and Rockdale counties.

Lowery is scheduled to make the announcement Thursday at noon at Paschal’s Restaurant in Atlanta, Johnson's spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. Last year, President Barack Obama awarded Lowery the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Johnson faces former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones and DeKalb Commissioner Connie Stokes in the Democratic primary on July 20. Business consultant Liz Carter, retired naval officer Larry Gause, information security manager Cory Ruth and publishing worker Victor Armendariz are running on the Republican ticket.