Door May Be Wide Open for Price to Become House Speaker

(Photo: U.S. Rep. Tom Price website)

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy -- once considered to be the frontrunner to become the next U.S. House speaker -- has dropped out of the race, according to Fox News.

And that may leave the door wide open for metro Atlanta congressman Tom Price -- who represents portions of Brookhaven and Dunwoody on Capitol Hill -- to replace outgoing Speaker John Boehner as the most powerful Republican in the House.

Price, whose sixth congressional district includes parts of Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Tucker and Roswell, had already announced a bid to replace McCarthy as Majority Leader.

News of Boehner’s departure late last month immediately started speculation as to who would succeed him, and Price was one of the names widely discussed in the political blogosphere.

On Thursday, Georgia political blog Peach Pundit quoted one House Republican as saying the GOP needs “to take a hard family conversation” to unify the party.

Price issued the following statement Thursday afternoon:

“Now is the time for our members to come together and have an honest conversation about how we unify our Conference. The best course would be for us to select a candidate for Speaker who will serve in that capacity for the next 15 months. This would allow the House to complete the business in a responsible manner, providing ample time for everyone’s voices to be heard, leading into full leadership elections in November of 2016.”