Polis: Center for Politics is pleased to announce that Congressman David Price will join Huma Abedin, Reggie Love, and Minh-Thu Pham as a 2022-2023 Polis Distinguished Fellow. An Emeritus Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, he will serve as the inaugural in-resident fellow, engaging with students, faculty colleagues, and the broader Duke community on campus and inspiring our thinking on a range of important issues, including safeguarding democracy and the pursuit of public service.
Congressman Price brings a wealth of experience to the Duke community as the longest-serving member of North Carolina’s congressional delegation.
Dr. Deondra Rose, Director of Polis: Center for Politics, noted that “As Polis continues to focus our work around the theme of ‘Discourse for Democracy’ and efforts to replace the polarization and division on our political landscape with transformative conversations that can help us move beyond our differences to build a stronger democracy, we are extremely privileged to have the opportunity to learn from Congressman Price and his legacy of service. Throughout his entire career, he has modeled the power of listening, collaborative problem solving, and using knowledge in service to society. It gives us great honor to have Congressman Price among this year’s cohort of Polis Director’s Fellows.”
David E. Price represented North Carolina’s Fourth District, the Research Triangle region, in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987-94 and 1997-2022.
A member of the House Appropriations Committee, Price chaired the subcommittees on Homeland Security (2007-10) and Transportation – Housing and Urban Development (2019-22). He particularly focused on investments in mass transit and passenger rail and on enhanced funding for housing for the elderly and people with disabilities, protecting and improving manufactured housing communities, and the Choice Neighborhoods program.
Price also chaired the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), a bipartisan commission he initiated to work peer-to-peer to support and strengthen representative institutions in emerging democracies. He worked extensively with Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, N. Macedonia, Kosovo, Mongolia, Indonesia, Kenya, Tunisia, and Peru, among other partner countries.
Price grew up in Erwin, Tennessee and was educated at Mars Hill College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he held a Morehead-Cain scholarship. He obtained a Bachelor of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in political science at Yale University. He taught for four years at Yale before coming to Duke in 1973, where he held a joint appointment in Political Science and Public Policy. He is the author of four books and numerous articles on American politics and institutions, political thought, ethics, and foreign affairs, including The Congressional Experience, which he has taken through four editions.