Jody Hice to Newsmax TV: Response to Trump Endorsement 'Overwhelming'

Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., told Newsmax TV on Monday that he's "very grateful" to former President Donald Trump for endorsing his challenge to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Trump said that the congressman "leads out front with integrity."

Hice told "The National Report" that the response to Trump's endorsement "has just been overwhelming."

"I can't keep up with the messages that are coming in from all over the place, online, on my phone, all over place," Hice said. "We're just really excited and appreciative of the support that's coming, and people in this state are keenly aware that we had some major problems in this past election cycle.

"And look, the free country that we have rests upon the ability of the people to cast their votes for those that they want to represent them. And when that voting process is in question, when the confidence of the voting process is taken away, we've got a serious problem. That has been the issue here in Georgia. We've got to restore the confidence and the voters, and we've got to restore the integrity of the process. And I'm looking forward to be able to take that battle and come out securing the voters of this state that their votes count.”

Hice also said that "we just all watched the disaster take place in ... this past election in Georgia, and right at the center of all that was our own secretary of state. He just made some horrible decisions and opened wide the door for potential fraud in this state, and I believe many people walked through that. It's time to restore trust and integrity in the office of the secretary of state, to renew confidence of the voters of Georgia that when they cast a vote, it's going to count."

Hice said "this is something that we've been wallowing around for quite a while, and my wife and I decided this is a time for us to jump in this. And we're very grateful to likewise have the support and the endorsement of the president.”

The congressman added when asked what his first steps would be to ensure that the state’s elections are secure, that "the bottom line is we're very fortunate and we're blessed right now that the general assembly of Georgia's doing their work to close the gaping holes that were created by Brad Raffensperger. And so, we're going to wait and see what kind of laws and election reforms that come out of this session of the general assembly.

"But from that perspective when we'll take those laws and enforcement, we've got to make sure that only legal votes are cast and only legal votes are counted in this state, and we did not have that assurance in the past. We're going to close some of the gaping holes, we're going to enforce the law, we're going to go after those who fraudulently cast votes in the state of Georgia, so I'm looking forward to being able to have that opportunity and hope that the voters of Georgia will entrust me with that responsibility."

When asked if Georgia is "turning blue" based on Democrats’ recent Senate wins in the state, Hice said, "there's no question Georgia is growing, we are the number one state in the country for business, and we have a lot of businesses coming here," but added, "no, I don't believe Georgia has gone blue."

Hice said that "we've got hundreds, literally hundreds of thousands of voters who have lost their confidence in the voting system here. There are some half a million who did not vote in that Senate race that you referenced who did vote in the presidential election."

He went on to claim that "we just had absolutely wide-open door for all sorts of questionable behavior to take place in this past election, and it is for that reason that the general assembly now is addressing those issues. Those issues should have never occurred; it should have never happened. It's unfortunate that we find ourselves in a place that we should never have been in, and yet we are here because of horrible decisions from our secretary of state, and it is for that reason that he needs to be replaced."