Sen. Vincent Fort cited Bernie Sanders' positions on health care, Wall Street reform and the minimum wage. | AP Photo Georgia state senator switches endorsement from Clinton to Sanders

The second-highest ranking Democrat in the Georgia state Senate on Tuesday switched his endorsement from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In making the change, state Sen. Vincent Fort cited Sanders' positions on health care, Wall Street reform, and the minimum wage, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's report.


"After months of looking at Bernie's record and studying his positions on healthcare, Wall Street, predatory lending and the minimum wage, I came to the conclusion that Bernie's position on the issues that affect my constituents in Georgia the most conform most closely to my positions," Fort said.

The decision by Fort, who is African-American, also means he's going against the state's Democratic establishment—including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed—which has mostly backed Clinton ahead of its March 1 primary.

The move comes during Sanders' current swing through the South ahead of the South Carolina Democratic primary on Feb. 27, as he looks to make inroads among the African-American electorate. On Tuesday, he held two campaign events in South Carolina and is scheduled to host another town hall at Morehouse College in Atlanta later in the day.

Fort predicted that as more people learned about Sanders they would throw their support his way.

"As people have a chance to listen to him, to have a chance to understand that he’s speaking to the issues that are the most critical," Fort said, according to the Georgia newspaper.

This isn’t the first time Sanders has nabbed a former Clinton backer in the South.

In January, South Carolina state Rep. Justin Bamberg—who is also the lawyer for the family of Walter Scott, the African-American man who was killed by a police officer last April—took back his endorsement of Clinton and gave it to Sanders instead.