David Price (American politician)

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Pp-pc Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder David Eugene Price (born August 17, 1940) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Template:Ushr from 1997 to 2023, previously holding the position from 1987 to 1995. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering much of the heart of the Triangle, including all of Orange County and parts of Wake, Durham, Chatham, and adjacent counties.<ref name="book1">Template:Cite book</ref> This district included Chapel Hill and, at various times, all or part of Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Hillsborough, and Fayetteville.<ref name="book1"/> Price was the dean of North Carolina's delegation to the House of Representatives.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He retired from Congress in 2022.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Born in Erwin, Tennessee, Price attended Mars Hill College when it was a junior college.<ref name="newsobserver">Template:Cite news</ref> He later transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after winning a Morehead Scholarship and became a member of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also served in the student legislature<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>, was president of the Baptist Student Union<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Order of the Golden Fleece<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>. He earned his degree in 1961.<ref name="newsobserver" /> Originally intent on becoming an engineer,<ref name="newsobserver" /> Price continued his education at Yale University, where he received a theology degree (1964) and a Ph.D. in political science (1969).<ref name="about-david">Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

Price served as an aide to Alaska Senator Bob Bartlett in the summers from 1963 to 1967 and on the campaign staff of Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) in 1970.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He taught political science and American studies at Yale from 1969-73, and then served as a political science and public policy professor at Duke University from 1973 until his first campaign for Congress in 1986.<ref name="about-david"/> He also served as a Duke professor during 1995 and 1996, when he was not in Congress.<ref name="about-david"/>

Price has written a political science account, The Congressional Experience, from the perspective of a candidate for office and then a member of Congress. He took this book through four editions. Price also served as executive director (in 1980) and then state chair (in 1984) of the North Carolina Democratic Party before his election to Congress.<ref name="newsobserver"/> In 1981-82 he was staff director of the Commission on Presidential Nomination, chaired by NC Governor Jim Hunt, for the Democratic National Committee.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

1986–1992

Price first entered Congress in 1987 after defeating one-term Representative Bill Cobey, 56% to 44%.<ref name="about-david"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was reelected in 1988 and 1990 with 58% of the vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1992, he was reelected with 65%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

1994

In 1994, Price lost to the Republican nominee, former Raleigh police chief Fred Heineman, by a margin of less than 1%<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> during the Republican Revolution, in part due to lower-than-expected turnout in the Democratic stronghold of Orange CountyTemplate:Citation needed (home to Chapel Hill), but despite the fact that heavily Republican Randolph County had been eliminated from the fourth district during redistricting.<ref name="newsobserver"/>

1996

In 1996, Price defeated Heineman in a rematch, 54% to 44%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was helped in part by voters who were not happy with the lack of progress made by the freshman class on the goals of the Contract with America.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

1998–2006

The district reverted to form, and Price was reelected by wide margins in 1998 (57%), 2000 (62%), 2002 (61%), 2004 (64%), and 2006 (65%).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2008–2020

Price's opponent in the 2008 election was Republican B.J. Lawson. Lawson was called the most formidable opposition Price had faced since he lost to Heineman in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For example, he ran television ads, which Price's opponents hadn't done in at least a decade.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite Lawson's increased efforts and expenditures, Price defeated him, 63% to 37%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Price launched his 2010 reelection campaign on September 8 of that year. Price defeated Lawson in a rematch, 56% to 44%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2012, Price defeated the Republican nominee, businessman Tim D'Annunzio. In 2014, he defeated Republican Paul Wright, a trial lawyer, former District Court and Superior Court judge and 2012 candidate for governor of North Carolina. In 2016, Price defeated Republican nominee Sue Googe. In 2018, he defeated Republican nominee Steve Von Loor and Libertarian nominee Barbara Howe. The 4th district was reconfigured as a result of court-mandated redistricting in 2019. The new district shed much of its Raleigh sections in exchange for all of Durham County and several other more rural counties. In 2020, Price defeated Republican nominee Robert Thomas with more than 67% of the vote.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Tenure

Price in 1992

The first bill Price authored required disclosure of the terms of home equity loans.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> On the Appropriations Committee he successfully pursued funding for the Environmental Protection Agency laboratory in Research Triangle Park and the NC National Guard and Emergency Operations headquarters in Raleigh.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Price was an early opponent of the Iraq War of 2003<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and sponsored a bill to bring the conduct of private military companies working in Iraq under legal jurisdiction of the United States.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He has also introduced legislation to prohibit contractors from performing interrogations of prisoners in the custody of intelligence agencies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As chairman of the 2008 House subcommittee responsible for determining the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, Price sought to focus immigration enforcement efforts on criminal convicts.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Price authored a provision of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that made the interest on student loans tax-deductible,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> and legislation creating the Advanced Technological Education program at the National Science Foundation, which provides grants for high-tech education in community colleges and was enacted in 1993.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> reasoning that "the harmful effects of the credit crisis on all North Carolinians were too great for the federal government to sit on the sidelines."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and for "[defending] critical emergency management and homeland security priorities" received an award from the association of state emergency managers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2009, he voted for the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which enacted more stringent regulations on the financial industry to protect consumers and taxpayers from another financial crisis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Price was the author of legislation to reform the public financing system for presidential campaigns.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>

Price has opposed concentration of media ownership. He worked on legislative initiatives to roll back the FCC's 2003 rules<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill to overturn another 2008 FCC approval of media consolidation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Price voted for the 2006 "Markey amendment" to establish network neutrality in the Communication Act of 1934.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2013, Price voted against the amendment to the Patriot Act that would have eliminated Section 215 and curtailed the National Security Agency's controversial data collection program.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Price became ranking Democrat on the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee in 2015 and chairman in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His work then focused on intercity rail, mass transit, housing for the elderly and disabled, and the Choice Neighborhoods comprehensive redevelopment grants.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

His foreign policy efforts focused on promoting and defending the Iran Nuclear Agreement and supporting a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He initiated and chaired the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), a bipartisan commission that engages peer-to-peer with parliaments in emerging democracies to share best practices and encourage the development of the effective institutions democracy requires.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

On October 18, 2021, Price announced that he would not seek reelection.<ref name=":0" />

Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (Chair)

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Humanities Caucus (Co-Chair)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• National Service Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Arts Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• House Baltic Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Afterschool Caucuses<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• America's Languages Caucus (Co-Chair)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Congressional Moldova Caucus (Co-Chair)<ref name="book2">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Congressional Study Group on Germany (Chair, 1990)<ref name="book2"/>
• Multiple Sclerosis Caucus (Co-Chair)<ref name="book2"/>
• Congressional Vision Caucus (Co-Chair)<ref name="book2"/>

Price also chaired the House Democracy Assistance Commission (later House Democracy Partnership.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Price was married to Lisa Kanwit from 1968 until her death in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Together they were longtime Democratic Party activists,<ref name="newsobserver"/> and had two children: Karen, a filmmaker; and Michael, a professor of Evolutionary Psychology at Brunel University in London.<ref name="about-david"/> Price has three grandchildren.<ref name="about-david"/> He currently resides in Chapel Hill<ref name="newsobserver"/> and is a member of the Binkley Memorial Baptist Church.

He received the 2011 John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities from the North Carolina Humanities Council.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other recognitions include the American Political Science Association's Hubert Humphrey Award<ref name="NC">Template:Cite web</ref>, Yale Divinity School's William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>, the Coast Guard's Bertholf Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>, the National Guard's Charles Dick Medal<ref name="NC"/>, and the National Service Hall of Fame<ref name="NC"/>. In 2023 he received the North Carolina Award for Public Service<ref name="NC"/>.

Price is a Baptist.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

External links

• Congressman David Price official U.S. House website
• David Price for Congress

• Template:C-SPAN

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