On a barnstorming first day of early voting in Georgia that included visits to a small restaurant, construction company, textile mill, and a polling location in her district, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene talked with supporters and took questions from regional and national media.
The day started early at Linda's Place in Rockmart, Georgia. After a quick greeting to the crowd then a coffee run, Greene went table-to-table until her campaign staff urged her to the front of the room to take questions.
"But I like going table-to-table," Greene said, bringing a laugh from the crowd of moer than 100. "Because I sincerely enjoy fellowship with you all, hearing your feedback. Every time I speak with people here, back at home, it just fills me back up and supports everything I think and say. It tells me I'm doing the right thing, because you're telling me back the things that I'm saying in Washington. I just want you to know how important that is to me."
Greene spoke about immigration and the toll it's taking on U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, telling the crowd she was on the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, just last week. She also said that if the Republicans take back the House of Representatives, she wants to focus all the House's committees on investigations.
But first, she said, she had to ask the voters if they would send her back to Washington. The crowd answered with a rousing yes. Next, she asked if they should investigate Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son. More cheers. What about investigating Anthony Fauci and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, she asked. The crowd cheered once again.
After Greene rallied the crowd, Rockmart resident and supporter Frank Shelley spoke to Greene briefly as she came by his table. He said he wanted to thank her for her work and hear what she had to say.
"I'm proud that somebody's willing to stand up and say the things she does and believe the way she does under the pressure she's under," Shelley said. When asked about what issues are important to him, he said it's that the country's so divided, and if you stand for what's right, you'll be "ridiculed" and "ostracized for it."
The next stop was at a family-owned business, Evans Construction Co. Kevin Evans runs the company, but said he still has lunch with his father Donald every day to get insight on the business the elder Evans founded in the late 1970s.
In his office, Kevin Evans told Greene that high gas prices are hurting his family's business, as is difficulty finding truck drivers. Kevin Evans said the nearby paper mill - which used to be the best place to work in Rome, Georgia, - had a job fair a year ago, and not a single person showed up. Back in the warehouse, Donald agreed young people don't want to work and "would rather peck on that computer all day."
Greene went on to vote early at Rome's John Horace Anthony Recreation Center. The primary election is May 24, with a runoff if needed on June 21 and a general election Nov. 8.
Greene faces a number of Republican and Democratic challengers.
"Marjorie Taylor Greene is losing support from Republicans across Georgia, and she's terrified," one of the Democratic candidates, Marcus Flowers, said on social media Sunday. "Rep. Greene is beatable, and I will be the one to unseat her.'
Asked by a reporter what her priorities would be if re-elected, Greene said strengthening the southern U.S. border.
On another media question of who she will support for Georgia governor, the congresswoman said she would remain neutral and keep her vote private.
Greene was stripped of any committee assignments in Congress last year over social media activity criticized as conspiratorial and even violent. The action was taken by Democrats who have control of the House of Representatives.
A reporter asked her which Democrats should be stripped of their committee assignments if Republicans take control of the House this fall. Greene recommended Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, be removed from committees because of his association with a "Chinese spy." Swalwell has said he was unaware the woman was a spy, and he cut off ties once briefed by intelligence agencies. Greene also said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, should be removed from committees but didn't give a reason.
What did she think of criticism that people liked her policies, but not her outspoken style? Greene said people like her because she's not willing to compromise her values.
"These are the things that need to be said," Greene said. "This is how people feel all over America. And unfortunately, rural America and most Americans haven't had a voice for a very long time."
Several Walker County residents have filed a legal challenge to Greene's appearance on the ballot, citing a Civil War-era law that prohibits insurrectionists from holding office. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, on Sunday criticized Greene's testimony in the legal proceeding.
"When Marjorie Taylor Greene is confronted, she's all of a sudden a victim and a poor, helpless congresswoman that's just trying to do her job," he said. "It's insane."
In downtown Rome, Greene on Monday was asked by a reporter about the legal challenge. She said the claim that she's an insurrectionist is not true.
"That's the narrative that's pushed in Washington, D.C., by the same people that could not care less about riots all over the country in 2020," Greene said. "They cheered those on, they funded them, they bailed out rioters, and they called those mostly peaceful protests."
(READ MORE: Ballot challenge for Marjorie Taylor Greene started in Walker County, Georgia)
When asked by the Chattanooga Times Free Press about the U.S. role in war in Ukraine, Greene said it is always the people who suffer most in war. Wrong decisions were made on the front end, she said, including the U.S.'s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Biden administration stating that the nation wouldn't go to war with Russia and would stand with its NATO allies - knowing that Ukraine wasn't part of that European defense alliance.
"The failure in Afghanistan gave the wrong signal to the entire world that America is weak," she said. "We armed the Taliban, we pulled out and got 13 soldiers killed. That was awful, awful. It gave Putin all the bravery he needed, basically a green light to invade Ukraine."
Sanctions against Russia are causing famines and increased energy prices, and providing weapons and support to Ukraine is only dragging out the war, she said. Americans are tired of nearly 20 years of war in the Middle East - "these are things we don't want to be involved with," Greene said.
(READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene seeks to defeat legal challenge to her candidacy)
Greene responded to challenging questions from reporters politely all day. But she said the establishment media aren't just attacking her, they're attacking the people she represents.
"Most people are just tired of it. They've seen that done to other people, like President Trump and others before," Greene said. "It's unfortunate, it really discredits the media because people see through it. Good thing is: People here at home know exactly who I am, they know that I care about our families and our values."
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.