A rash of vacancies in the state House — the result of one guilty plea, one job relocation, three gubernatorial appointments and a fatal illness – have filled this summer with six special elections across the state.
All will generate some degree of local interest, but one race in particular is likely to draw broader attention, simply because it could give Georgia politics its first power couple.
Betty Price, currently a member of the Roswell City Council, is one of three candidates vying for the District 48 seat made vacant by the May death of state Rep. Harry Geisinger. She is also the wife of U.S. Rep. Tom Price.
The July 14 race is no cake walk. A runoff is highly likely. Also running are James Johnson, a Democrat who pulled 35 percent of the vote when he ran against Geisinger in 2014, and Dave McCleary, a longtime GOP activist and civic volunteer. McCleary says he’ll have the Geisinger family behind him.
But after much head-scratching, graybeards in and around the state Capitol have declared that a Price victory would produce something we haven’t ever seen – a husband and wife serving concurrently in Congress and the Legislature.
The closest we’ve come to that kind of tandem operation is the daughter-father team of U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney and state Rep. Billy McKinney. Both lost their seats in 2002, though Cynthia McKinney would make a brief comeback before her final congressional defeat at the hands of Hank Johnson in 2006.
But the McKinneys operated on the fringes of their respective Democratic caucuses. Tom Price is now chairman of the House Budget Committee, with Washington clout that’s only likely to increase as Republicans cement their hold on that chamber.
And Betty Price is no shrinking violet. We were at a small Cajun restaurant in the heart of Roswell when I mentioned the husband-and-wife thing.
“I guess some people may find that interesting,” Price said. She then made clear that she wasn’t content to simply blend into the D.C. wallpaper. “I’ve done my spouse thing in Washington. I chaired a number of things, have been president of a couple things. Been there, done that,” she said. Price still flies to Washington about once a month.
For the last five years, she has served on the Roswell City Council. “I think I’ve done a good job. Nobody works harder,” she said. The position has allowed her to test-pilot the benefits of a direct line to Washington.
“There have been some great collaborations, because we get a lot of grants. They’re federal grants,” Price said. “We send the money to Washington, and if we’re good boys and girls we get it back. When I explained to Tom what they’re making us go through, it just gives him some enlightenment.”
The Prices met 32 years ago in the operating rooms of Grady Memorial Hospital, during a weekend shift filled with gunshot wounds and amputations. She was an anesthesiologist, he was a surgeon.
“We made a great team," Betty Price, 62, said. "Both of us are energetic. Some people get by. For whatever reason, we’re obsessed with over-achievement, I guess."
Mark Rountree, a strategist for the Price campaign, said he wasn’t sure how much campaigning Tom Price would do for his wife.
But as we said, a Price victory is no sure thing. Johnson, the 38-year-old Democrat, could push the formally nonpartisan contest into a runoff – but nearly two-thirds of District 48 voters have Republican inclinations.
Price’s chief rival is McCleary, a 55-year-old businessman and former president (like Tom Price) of the Roswell Rotary Club. For the last several years, McCleary has been a state Capitol champion for legislation to stop human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children.
McCleary has also been involved in too many Republican campaigns to count. He was a Georgia co-chairman of Herman Cain’s 2012 presidential bid – Cain will be the chief draw at a McCleary rally later this month. McCleary was also the Fulton County co-chairman for Tom Price during his upset victory in the 2004 GOP primary for Congress.
“Tom’s not on the ballot. He’s a good friend, but he’s not on the ballot. That’s kind of where we stand with that,” McCleary said during an interview at his campaign headquarters. Qualifying only ended on Wednesday, but his signs already populate main drags in Roswell. McCleary had something of a head start.
“Harry and I had talked about this. He took me out to dinner about nine months ago – said he wasn’t going to run again. [He] asked me if I’d consider running for his seat,” McCleary said.
Differences between McCleary and Price on issues are likely to be a matter of emphasis.
Price says she would focus on transportation. She has already given House Bill 170, the transportation funding bill passed by the Legislature this spring, a cover-to-cover reading.
McCleary said he’ll give extra weight to children’s issues, and would be a strong supporter of “religious liberty” legislation now stalled in the House.
So this is likely to be a contest decided by biography, personality, and maybe a dash of history. That’s always a volatile combination in a GOP primary.
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