FLOWERY BRANCH — U.S. Rep Tom Graves urged constituents in Hall County on Wednesday to back Mitt Romney in the race to be the next president of the United States.In the county for a congressional town hall meeting with constituents he’ll no longer have next year due to redistricting, Graves asked Republicans here not to sit on the sidelines during the presidential election “even if you’re not 100 percent excited about the nominee.”Romney is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party in this year’s presidential race.But in March, most of the votes from Graves’ former and future congressional districts went to the former House Speaker from Georgia, Newt Gingrich.Gingrich dropped out of the race, lacking, by far, the delegates needed to garner the party’s nomination.Days before Gingrich officially dropped out, Graves was the first of Georgia’s congressional delegation to endorse Romney as the Republican nominee in the election.Graves, a favorite of the tea party in his 2010 election to Congress, said Wednesday his relatively early endorsement of Romney gives him an opportunity to take a leadership role in Georgia for Romney’s presidential campaign.His decision to support Romney, said Graves congressional spokeswoman Jennifer Hazelton, was because the congressman felt the choice was “between two futures in this election: one of debt and dependency versus opportunity and prosperity.”Romney, according to Graves’ staff, is the latter choice.“For me, it’s about (the fact that) we’ve got to beat Barack Obama,” Graves said. “Whatever it takes to beat Barack Obama, I want to be a part of that.”While Graves has taken a stand in the presidential race, he said he won’t be involved, however, in the campaign to choose a representative for the new 9th District. Graves discussed his endorsement at a town hall meeting he hosted at Spout Springs library in Flowery Branch on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the budget and transportation along with a number of issues some of the 35 people who attended raised.Graves told those in attendance that he had been promoting “budgets that are responsible” in Washington, a move he said “almost shut the place down at times.”“The needle has been moved; the message has been heard, but I think it needs to keep being sent,” Graves said.