(CNN) -- It's a refrain that former Sen. David Perdue has made a centerpiece of his campaign for governor in Georgia.
"The election in 2020 was rigged and stolen," Perdue asserted at a recent debate.
Perdue's former Senate GOP colleagues, however, are less than impressed.
"It's absurd," said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, when asked about the remarks of Perdue, his former colleague. "I think the effort to try and overturn an election when there is, at this stage, no evidence of widespread fraud is detrimental to democracy and insulting to the American public."
"Hell yes," one of Perdue's closest Senate friends told CNN when asked if he was surprised by his ex-colleague's campaign transformation.
"I don't know whether he believes it or not. I really don't," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican. "But I'm sure it's a political strategy."
Indeed, in his six years in the Senate before losing his reelection bid last year, Perdue was a mainstream Senate Republican member, a business-minded conservative who usually voted with his party.
But Perdue announced his bid in December challenging Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, blaming Kemp for his and then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler's losses, which cost Republicans the Senate, by arguing that the governor did not do enough to overturn the results.
Former President Donald Trump, who has relentlessly attacked Kemp for his loss in Georgia, endorsed Perdue, falsely asserting that Kemp "allowed massive election fraud to take place."
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