David Price
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNorth Carolina's4th district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2023
Preceded by	Fred Heineman
Succeeded by	Valerie Foushee
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Bill Cobey
Succeeded by	Fred Heineman
Personal details
Born	David Eugene Price (1940-08-17)August 17, 1940 (age 85) Erwin, Tennessee, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lisa Kanwit ​ ​ (m. 1968; died 2022)​
Children	2
Education	Mars Hill University University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA) Yale University (BDiv,PhD)
Price's voice Price on emergency supplemental appropriations for border security. Recorded July 28, 2010

David Eugene Price (born August 17, 1940) is an American politician who was theU.S. representative forNorth Carolina's 4th congressional district from 1997 to 2023, previously holding the position from 1987 to 1995. A member of theDemocratic Party, he represented a district covering much of the heart of theTriangle, including all ofOrange County and parts ofWake,Durham,Chatham, and adjacent counties.^[1] This district includedChapel Hill and, at various times, all or part ofDurham,Raleigh,Cary,Hillsborough, andFayetteville.^[1] Price was the dean ofNorth Carolina's delegation to the House of Representatives.^[2] He retired from Congress in2022.^[3][4]

Born inErwin, Tennessee, Price attendedMars Hill College when it was ajunior college.^[5] He later transferred to theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after winning a Morehead Scholarship and became a member of theDialectic and Philanthropic Societies.^[6] He also served in the student legislature^[7], was president of the Baptist Student Union^[8], and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa^[9] and the Order of the Golden Fleece^[10]. He earned his degree in 1961.^[5] Originally intent on becoming an engineer,^[5] Price continued his education atYale University, where he received atheology degree (1964) and aPh.D. inpolitical science (1969).^[11]

Price served as an aide toAlaska SenatorBob Bartlett in the summers from 1963 to 1967 and on the campaign staff of Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) in 1970.^[12][13] He taughtpolitical science andAmerican studies at Yale from 1969-73, and then served as a political science andpublic policy professor atDuke University from 1973 until his first campaign for Congress in 1986.^[11] He also served as a Duke professor during 1995 and 1996, when he was not in Congress.^[11]

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.^[5] In 1981-82 he was staff director of the Commission on Presidential Nomination, chaired by NC Governor Jim Hunt, for the Democratic National Committee.^[14]

1986–1992

Price first entered Congress in 1987 after defeating one-term RepresentativeBill Cobey, 56% to 44%.^[11][15] He was reelected in 1988 and 1990 with 58% of the vote.^[16][17] In 1992, he was reelected with 65%.^[18]

1994

In 1994, Price lost to theRepublican nominee, formerRaleigh police chiefFred Heineman, by a margin of less than 1%^[19] during theRepublican Revolution, in part due to lower-than-expected turnout in the Democratic stronghold ofOrange County^{[citation needed]} (home to Chapel Hill), but despite the fact that heavily RepublicanRandolph County had been eliminated from the fourth district during redistricting.^[5]

1996

In 1996, Price defeated Heineman in a rematch, 54% to 44%.^[20] 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 theContract with America.^[21]

1998–2006

The district reverted to form, and Price was reelected by wide margins in 1998 (57%), 2000 (62%), 2002 (61%), 2004 (64%), and2006 (65%).^[22]

2008–2020

Price's opponent in the2008 election was RepublicanB.J. Lawson. Lawson was called the most formidable opposition Price had faced since he lost to Heineman in 1994.^[23] For example, he ran television ads, which Price's opponents hadn't done in at least a decade.^[24] Despite Lawson's increased efforts and expenditures, Price defeated him, 63% to 37%.^[25]

Price launched his2010 reelection campaign on September 8 of that year. Price defeated Lawson in a rematch, 56% to 44%.^[26]

In2012, Price defeated the Republican nominee, businessman Tim D'Annunzio. In2014, he defeated Republican Paul Wright, a trial lawyer, former District Court andSuperior Court judge and 2012 candidate forgovernor of North Carolina. In2016, 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 ofDurham County and several other more rural counties. In 2020, Price defeated Republican nominee Robert Thomas with more than 67% of the vote.^[27]

The first bill Price authored required disclosure of the terms of home equity loans.^[28] 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.^[29]

Price was an early opponent of theIraq War of 2003^[30] and sponsored a bill to bring the conduct ofprivate military companies working in Iraq under legal jurisdiction of the United States.^[31] He has also introduced legislation to prohibit contractors from performing interrogations of prisoners in the custody of intelligence agencies.^[32]

As chairman of the 2008 House subcommittee responsible for determining the budget for theDepartment of Homeland Security, Price sought to focus immigration enforcement efforts on criminal convicts.^[33][34]

Price authored a provision of theTaxpayer Relief Act of 1997 that made the interest on student loans tax-deductible,^[35] and legislation creating the Advanced Technological Education program at theNational Science Foundation, which provides grants for high-tech education in community colleges and was enacted in 1993.^[36] He voted for theEmergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,^[37] 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."^[38] and for "[defending] critical emergency management and homeland security priorities" received an award from the association of stateemergency managers.^[39] In December 2009, he voted for theWall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which enacted more stringent regulations on the financial industry to protect consumers and taxpayers from another financial crisis.^[40]

Price was the author of legislation to reform thepublic financing system for presidential campaigns.^[41]

Price has opposedconcentration of media ownership. He worked on legislative initiatives to roll back the FCC's 2003 rules^[42] and co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill to overturn another 2008 FCC approval of media consolidation.^[43] Price voted for the 2006 "Markey amendment" to establishnetwork neutrality in the Communication Act of 1934.^[44]

In 2013, Price voted against the amendment to thePatriot Act that would have eliminated Section 215 and curtailed the National Security Agency's controversial data collection program.^[45]

Price became ranking Democrat on the Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee in 2015 and chairman in 2019.^[46] His work then focused on intercity rail, mass transit, housing for the elderly and disabled, and the Choice Neighborhoods comprehensive redevelopment grants.^[47]

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.^[48] 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.^[49]

On October 18, 2021, Price announced that he would not seek reelection.^[3]

• 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)

• Congressional Humanities Caucus (Co-Chair)
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus^[50]
• National Service Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Arts Caucus^[51]
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus^[52]
• House Baltic Caucus^[53]
• Afterschool Caucuses^[54]
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus^[55]
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus^[56]
• America's Languages Caucus (Co-Chair)^[57]
• Congressional Moldova Caucus (Co-Chair)^[58]
• Congressional Study Group on Germany (Chair, 1990)^[58]
• Multiple Sclerosis Caucus (Co-Chair)^[58]
• Congressional Vision Caucus (Co-Chair)^[58]

Price also chaired the House Democracy Assistance Commission (later House Democracy Partnership.^[59]

Price was married to Lisa Kanwit from 1968 until her death in 2022.^[60] Together they were longtime Democratic Party activists,^[5] and had two children: Karen, a filmmaker; and Michael, a professor of Evolutionary Psychology atBrunel University in London.^[11] Price has three grandchildren.^[11] He currently resides inChapel Hill^[5] and is a member of the Binkley Memorial Baptist Church.

He received the 2011John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities from the North Carolina Humanities Council.^[61] Other recognitions include the American Political Science Association's Hubert Humphrey Award^[62], Yale Divinity School's William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice^[63], the Coast Guard's Bertholf Award^[64], the National Guard's Charles Dick Medal^[62], and the National Service Hall of Fame^[62]. In 2023 he received the North Carolina Award for Public Service^[62].

Price is a Baptist.^[65]

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David Eugene Price

• Congressman David Price official U.S. House website
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