CUMMING — When Democrats flipped Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in 2018, they savored the symbolism of the win — this was the seat once held by Newt Gingrich, architect of the Republican revolution.
On Thursday, the former U.S. House speaker showed that turnabout is fair play, headlining a rally aimed at returning the seat to GOP control.
“This race is unbelievably important,” Gingrich told a crowd of about 300 people gathered in the late-day sunshine to support GOP candidate Jake Evans. “The next decade is going to be really hard work.”
The 6th District bears only a passing resemblance to the one Gingrich represented in the 1990s. Redrawn late last year by state legislators to again favor the GOP, the boundaries were pushed further north to include more conservative voters from Cherokee, Dawson and Forsyth counties. Facing long odds for reelection, Democratic incumbent Lucy McBath decided to run in the neighboring 7th District instead.
A crowded field of nine Republicans and two Democrats are jockeying to the fill new seat. Evans, the former chairman of the state ethics commission, is the son of Gingrich’s longtime ally and friend Randy Evans.
“I think I’ve known Jake since he was about 6 months old. I’ve watched him grow up,” Gingrich said.
In a speech praising Evans, Gingrich outlined the nation’s troubles, from energy policy to immigration to the debt.
He attempted to link Democrats to the controversy over allowing transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports.
“Why are they that committed to minimizing the role of women? I find this, frankly, bizarre,” Gingrich said.
Then he attacked the nation’s first female vice president, Kamala Harris, saying “she weakens us in the world.”
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gingrich said he’s been enjoying his time back in Georgia after several years in Rome where his wife, Callista, served as ambassador to the Vatican during the Trump administration.
In recent days, he’s been stumping for Republican gubernatorial candidate David Perdue in his challenge against incumbent Brian Kemp.
“I have a real affinity for this district, for the suburbs of Atlanta generally,” he said. “It’s fun to be out here again.”
Still, those suburbs have changed since Gingrich last served in the House more than two decades ago. Voters in Gingrich’s old home base of Cobb County, once reliably conservative, have backed Democrats in the past several election cycles.
Is Cobb, with its newly diverse electorate, lost to Republicans?
“Probably,” he said. “But listen, no place is safe for Democrats. If we actually get to 12% inflation (it’s at 7.9%), that is a real pain level; food, gasoline. And there is only one party to blame.”
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