Rep. Paul Broun, one of several Republicans running in Georgia’s open-seat Senate contest, got an endorsement Tuesday from the Madison Project, a group that seeks to boost tea party candidates into office.  

“Congressman Paul Broun is a doctor, soldier, citizen legislator, and proven constitutional warrior,” Madison Project Chairman Jim Ryun said in a news release. “He has been inviolable, while even the fiercest conservative fighters have succumbed to the establishment meat grinder in D.C. Broun is the consummate constitutional champion who puts people and principle before politics. That is why his leadership is needed in the United States Senate, which is full of governing-class elites from both parties who seek endless growth of the federal government.”  

Georgia has traditionally been reliable statewide territory for Republicans. But many GOP operatives argue that if Broun wins the Republican nomination, he could jeopardize the party’s control of the Senate seat .  

Broun has made a number of controversial comments while in the House, including when he described evolution and the Big Bang theory as “lies straight from the pit of Hell.” Other Republicans in the Senate field include Reps. Phil Gingrey and Jack Kingston, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel and businessman David Perdue, among others.  

The primary will be held May 20, with a runoff scheduled for July 22 if no candidate receives a majority of the vote .  

Whomever emerges from the GOP primary will face likely Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn. Nunn, a former nonprofit executive, is the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.  

The seat is open this fall because Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., is retiring.  

Georgia’s Senate race is rated a Republican Favored contest by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.