AMHERST — Jeff Price, an Amherst County Democrat, made the formal announcement Friday that he will run against Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge, for the House of Delegates.
Price, a manager in the family-run Virginia Lime Works near Madison Heights, said he would base his first political campaign on job creation plus “ideas and ideals.”
Price said his experience helping run a small business sets him apart from candidates statewide who talk about creating jobs.
“I create jobs,” he said. “We have to fight to keep jobs” in his small business, which focuses on restoring the masonry of historic buildings.
Actually, Price began a soft launch of his campaign in August when he filed candidacy papers and started lining up Democratic Party supporters.
Price’s campaign went public April 12 with a news release that criticized Cline’s vote in the General Assembly to reject $125 million in federal stimulus money that would have provided unemployment benefits to part-time workers.
Friday’s announcement was formal, delivered from the front steps of the Amherst County Courthouse with family members comprising much of the small crowd.
Price repeated the announcement two hours later at Lexington’s old courthouse.
Price, 30, is making his first bid for public office.
Cline, 37, was elected to the House of Delegates in 2002 and three times has defeated opponents by margins of 15 percent or better. He was unopposed in his last election in 2007.
Cline is also an assistant prosecutor in Rockingham County.
The 24th House District includes Rockbridge County, most of Amherst County, and part of Augusta County.
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