Artur Davis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromAlabama's7th district | |
| In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Earl Hilliard Sr. |
| Succeeded by | Terri Sewell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Artur Genestre Davis (1967-10-09)October 9, 1967 (age 58) Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic (before 2012, 2015–2016, 2017–present) Republican (2012–2015, 2016–2017) |
| Spouse | Tara Johnson |
| Education | Harvard University (BA,JD) |
Artur Genestre Davis (/ɑːrˈtʊər/; born October 9, 1967) is an American attorney and former politician who served as aDemocratic member of theUnited States House of Representatives forAlabama's 7th congressional district from 2003 to 2011. He was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination forGovernor of Alabama in the2010 election. After losing in the primary, he moved toVirginia and joined theRepublican Party. He rejoined the Democratic Party in 2015, switched to the Republican Party again in 2016, and then back to the Democrats in 2017, in his two attempts to be electedMayor ofMontgomery, Alabama in the2015 and2019 elections, losing both times.
Davis was an early supporter ofBarack Obama's 2008 bid for the presidency, and one of the national co-chairs for Obama's 2008 campaign. Known for his oratorical skills, Davis made one of the nominating speeches for Obama at the2008 Democratic National Convention. While serving on theHouse Ways and Means Committee, Davis was the firstAfrican-American member of Congress to advocate that Committee ChairmanCharles B. Rangel give up the chairmanship of the tax committee in the wake of ethics charges against Rangel. In 2009 and 2010, Davis voted against thePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the only member of theCongressional Black Caucus to do so.
In 2009, Davis sought to become Alabama's firstAfrican-AmericanGovernor. In attempting to appeal to a broader electorate, he lost the support of black voters by opposing national health care reform and failing to meet with certain black political groups.[1] He lost in the Democratic primary toAgriculture CommissionerRon Sparks, a more liberal Democrat.[2] Shortly after, Davis announced he would not be running for re-election to the House in 2010, instead returning to the practice of law.
A 1990s honors graduate ofHarvard University, in 2012 Davis became a visiting fellow at theHarvard Institute of Politics. He also began writing a column for the conservativeNational Review. He considered running for Congress as a Republican in the2014 House elections in Virginia but did not do so.[3] A resident of Virginia from 2011 until 2014, Davis spoke at the2012 Republican National Convention in support of the Republican nominee for President,Mitt Romney.[2] He was defeated in his two attempts to be electedMayor ofMontgomery, Alabama in the2015 and 2019 mayoral elections.[4]
Davis was born inMontgomery, Alabama, on October 9, 1967, and was raised by his mother and grandmother. He graduated fromJefferson Davis High School and thenmagna cum laude fromHarvard University in 1990. He earned aJ.D.cum laude fromHarvard Law School before returning to Alabama. He was the recipient of the Best Oralist Award in theAmes Moot Court Competition at Harvard Law School.
After working as anintern at theSouthern Poverty Law Center and then as acivil rights lawyer, he served as anAssistant United States Attorney.
Davis ran for the House in the Democratic primary against 10-year incumbent and formercivil rights activistEarl F. Hilliard. He criticized Hilliard for taking a trip toLibya in 1997 despite U.S. sanctions. Davis lost the 2000 primary election 58–34%.[5]
Davis ran again in 2002. The race attracted national attention because both candidates made theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict an issue, and both attracted support and money from outside of Alabama—Davis fromJewish Americans and supporters of Israel, Hilliard from Arab-Americans and supporters of the Palestinians.[5][6] During the campaign, Hilliard questioned whether Davis was "black enough" to represent the district. Davis narrowly won the primary requiring a runoff in June. He won the runoff easily, assuring him victory in November in the heavily Democratic district, and he began his term in January 2003.
Davis was challenged in the 2004 primary by Albert Turner Jr., a son of a leader of Selma's "Bloody Sunday" march. Davis won the primary 88%–12%.
In the Democratic primary, he defeated political newcomer Eddison Walters 90–9%. He won the general election unopposed.
In the new Democratically controlled110th Congress, Davis was assigned to theCommittee on Ways and Means. The stature of that appointment, and the difficulty of raising sufficient funds, led Davis to postpone plans to challenge conservative SenatorJeff Sessions in 2008. In January 2007, Davis said that he was still interested in running on a statewide ticket in 2010, either for Governor, or for Senate ifRichard Shelby elected to retire.[7]
In 2007 he became the first Congressman outside Illinois to endorse Senator Barack Obama for president in 2008.[8] At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Davis gave a seconding speech formally placing Obama's name in nomination.[9] Davis also served as one of Obama's national campaign co-chairs.[1][10]
Davis's name surfaced in media speculation as a potential Attorney General in Obama's cabinet.[11][12] However, Davis was quoted inThe Birmingham News as stating that he did not anticipate such an offer, and would refuse it if made.[13]
As a freshman in Congress, Davis led the successful fight to reverse funding cuts for minority land grant colleges includingTuskegee University.[14] As a second term member, Davis won a floor fight to restore funding to theHOPE VI program for renovating public housing; he persuaded over sixty Republicans to vote with Democrats. In 2005, Davis was the lead Democratic sponsor of a bill establishing a national cord blood bank which will widen the availability of blood transfusions for thousands of patients who suffer from diseases such as sickle cell anemia and diabetes.[15] He received an A− grade on his voting record relating to veteran issues fromIraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.[16]
Davis was appointed to the Senior Whip Team for theDemocratic Caucus of the109th Congress and was the co-chair of the centrist HouseNew Democrat Coalition, as well as the Southern Regional co-chair for theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Davis was the first member of theCongressional Black Caucus to demand that former House Ways and Means ChairCharlie Rangel surrender his gavel in the wake of an ongoing ethics investigation.[17]
Davis twice voted against the Democratic-supportedhealth care reform legislation, first in November 2009,[18] and again in March 2010 when the legislation passed and was signed into law by President Obama.[19] He was the only member of theCongressional Black Caucus to vote against the legislation in March 2010;[19] he was also the member from the most-heavily Democratic-leaning district to vote against the legislation.[20]
In April 2009, Davis voted against theMatthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.[21]
In Congress, Davis was a member of the House Committee on the Budget,Committee on Ways and Means, theCommittee on the Judiciary and several of their subcommittees. He was a member of the30 Something Working Group and theCongressional Black Caucus.
On February 6, 2009, Davis announced his candidacy forGovernor of Alabama in 2010. His opponent in the Democratic primary wasstate Agriculture CommissionerRon Sparks.[22]
During the primary campaign, Davis downplayed matters of race and emphasized his independence from Democratic party orthodoxy. He caused controversy, including within his heavily minority congressional district, by voting against President Barack Obama's new health-care law—the only black Democrat in Congress to do so. He also refused to sit for the endorsement screenings of Alabama's black political groups, drawing criticism that he was snubbing African Americans in order to court white votes.[1][23] Davis lost the Democratic primary to Sparks on June 1, 2010, ending his gubernatorial bid.Birmingham News columnist John Archibald questioned Davis' strategy, saying that he campaigned "as it if were a general election and he wanted to claim some conservative street cred." Archibald believed that this hurt him with Democratic primary voters in Alabama, who are "blue dots in this big red state," and resulted in him becoming "the first African-American candidate in a statewide Alabama race to lose the black vote."[24] After the primary,state Representative Roderick Scott said black Democrats “can no longer take for granted they will receive the African-American vote.”[25] Davis announced he was retiring from politics and would return to private practice at the conclusion of his term in Congress in 2011.[26] Davis was succeeded by DemocratTerri Sewell, the first African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives from Alabama.
For a time, Davis was doubtful he would run for public office again. He said, "Alabama is not friendly to independent candidacies” and suggested that running as a Republican would not be a viable option because theAlabama Republican Party had declined to embrace politicians who have switched parties such as former U.S. CongressmanParker Griffith who switched parties and lost the Republican primary in 2010. He changed his voter registration from Alabama to Virginia in 2012, and said he would run as a Republican were he to seek political office in the future.[27]
In the Spring of 2012, he announced he would become a visiting fellow at theHarvard Institute of Politics.[28] In 2012, the conservativeNational Review online started publishing some of his political commentary.[29][30] In February 2012, Davis toldPolitico that some Democrats wanted to argue that Obama's critics were motivated by racism, which Davis called "a huge mistake ... a tactic that's likely to backfire" as it would lead "substantial number of Americans" to believe they were being called racists because they did not support Obama.[31]
In August 2012, he cited remarks by Vice PresidentJoe Biden for "racial viciousness"[1] for remarks Davis said were insulting to African Americans, and said, "Governor Romney is absolutely right as the Obama campaign is running a divisive campaign … pitting one set of Americans against another issue after issue". Davis also said, "It wouldn't be so bad if Barack Obama had not campaigned in such a different way."[32] Davis spoke at the Republican National Convention in August 2012 to voice additional criticisms of Barack Obama.[2] Following Mitt Romney's loss in the2012 presidential election, Davis said: "The Republican conservative base seems perilously close to shrinking to white southern evangelicals, senior white males, and upper income Protestants."[33]
In December 2013, it was announced that Davis would not run for retiring Republican CongressmanFrank Wolf's seat in Virginia. Davis had previously expressed interest in running for Wolf's seat after his move to the state.[34]
In late June 2014, it was reported that Davis was considering running for Mayor ofMontgomery, Alabama, in 2015.[35] On July 18, 2014, Davis announced that he would launch an exploratory campaign for a mayoral run.[36] On January 22, 2015, he officially declared his candidacy as a Democrat.[4] On August 25, 2015, Artur Davis was defeated in the mayoral election by incumbent mayorTodd Strange. Following this loss, Davis expressed interest in running for theMontgomery CountyCommission in 2016 as a Democrat. However, theAlabama Democratic Party refused to allow Davis on the ballot, as he had supported a Republican candidate for office within the past four years.[37]
Davis was also a candidate for Mayor of Montgomery in theAugust 2019 mayoral election, but lost again, winning 1,784 votes and placing sixth of twelve candidates.[38]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 153,735 | 92.44% | ||
| Libertarian | Lauren Orth McCay | 12,100 | 7.28% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 183,408 | 74.97% | −17.47% | |
| Republican | Steve Cameron | 61,019 | 24.94% | +24.94% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 133,870 | 99.04% | +24.07% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 228,518 | 98.63% | −0.41% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ron Sparks | 199,558 | 62.44% | ||
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 120,050 | 37.56% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Todd Strange | 22,744 | 56.50 | |
| Democratic | Artur Davis | 11,010 | 27.35 | |
| Democratic | Dan Harris | 4,508 | 11.20 | |
| Democratic | Ella Bell | 1,645 | 4.09 | |
| Democratic | Buena Browder | 349 | 0.87 | |
| Total votes | 40,256 | 100 | ||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromAlabama's 7th congressional district 2003–2011 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
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| National | |
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