ATLANTA — A former Georgia congressman forced out of the Trump administration is now among those applying for the US Senate seat that’ll be vacant at the end of the year.
Tom Price represented Atlanta’s northern suburbs until President Trump offered him a cabinet position. Scandal sent him back to Georgia.
Price submitted an application to the governor's web site Wednesday, according to his wife, former state Rep. Betty Price.
As a candidate for congress in Georgia, Tom Price won seven elections to a Republican friendly congressional district north of Atlanta. As a successful politician and physician, Price was President Trump’s pick to lead the department of Health and Human Services.
But as a cabinet secretary, Price had a penchant for travel on private and military planes. The inspector general concluded he’d wasted at least $341,000 on such travel during his seven months as secretary. He abruptly left Trump’s cabinet – and has been mostly out of the public eye since.
RELATED: Is Tom Price making a comeback?
Now Gov. Brian Kemp is seeking public applicants to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson, who’s resigning due to health issues.
Kemp’s office has posted hundreds of pages of resumes submitted to a public website. Price’s isn’t public yet, but Doug Collins’ resume is. The congressman from north Georgia, a fierce voice against Democrats trying to investigate the president, submitted a crisp two-page resume.
Public Service Commission Vice Chairman Tim Echols has submitted a resume, as has former Republican Congressman Paul Broun.
"What this is going to do is give the governor a lot of resumes, a lot of people who are interested for him to look at," Broun told 11Alive News. "And I’m sure I’m going to rise to the top of all those people for the simple reason that there’s no one in this state that has the record that I have."
But among the hundreds of pages of resumes the governor’s office has released, there are also countless civilian applicants – from a security guard to a Gainesville radio show host.
Echols thinks the unusual public submission process isn’t as awkward as it may seem.
"He’s got so many good choices," Echols told 11Alive News. "And I feel like whoever Gov. Kemp selects, I’m going to be behind them one hundred percent."
Kemp technically has until the end of December to announce a decision, which is only about 90 days from now. Whomever he chooses could face voters next year in a special election – if he or she chooses to run – and then potentially again in 2022, when Isakson’s election would normally come up on the calendar.
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