North Fulton County

Parties scramble to replace Price after Trump appointment

By Scott Flynn, WSBTV.com
By Scott Flynn, WSBTV.com

NORTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — President-elect Donald Trump officially announced Tuesday that he plans to nominate Georgia Rep. Tom Price as the new secretary of Health and Human Services.

Sources told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot there are a lot of people who want to run for his seat and some of them are current legislators. But in order to run, they would have to resign.

In a statement Tuesday, Price said “I am humbled by the incredible challenges that lay ahead.”

One of those challenges could be dismantling Obamacare.

Channel 2 Action News political analyst Bill Crane said Price saw problems with it from the very beginning.

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“He not only has an alternative bill, he was one of those who said, ‘This will go wrong, this will go wrong, this will go wrong.’”

But now comes the race to replace Price in Congress. The governor would have to call for a special election.

Any sitting legislator interested in the job would have to resign right in the middle of the legislative session.

Tom Price, a wonky orthopedic surgeon who has represented his Roswell-based House district for 12 years

One of the potential front runners for the job is Price's own wife, Georgia state Rep. Betty Price.

Georgia GOP vice chair Michael McNeely told Elliot that potential candidates are already lining up.

“We have individuals that can do the job here that are going to be competing for that position, and we anticipate the special election being maybe in the spring of 2017,” McNeely said.

Georgia's sixth district is heavily Republican, but Georgia Democrats are not ready to concede the seat.

“We are speaking to potential candidates even as we speak. We will field a strong candidate in that race,” the party said in a statement.

Crane told Elliot the race will be an interesting one.

“It is easier to win a congressional race in an open seat in a special election than it is to take out an incumbent, so there will be no shortage of candidates. Although, I forecast there won't be a lot of Democrats running for that seat,” Crane said.

The Georgia GOP applauded Trump's selection of Price, but Georgia Democrats called it an “alarming and inappropriate pick."

Cox Media Group

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