Artur Davis

This article is about the politician Artur Davis. For other people, see Arthur Davis .

Artur Davis

Artur Davis (born October 9, 1967 in Montgomery , Alabama ) is an American politician. As a member of the US House of Representatives , he represented the 7th Congressional constituency of the state of Alabama for the Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011 and retired from politics after his failed bid in the Democratic primary for the office of Governor of Alabama. He is considered to be one of the greatest talents among Afro-American politicians of his generation. In 2012 he joined the Republicans and in 2015 ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Montgomery.

Family, education and work

Davis is the son of a French teacher and grew up with her and his grandmother without his father, who was divorced from his mother. In 1986, he completed his education at Jefferson Davis - High School from Birmingham. He went from there to Harvard University , where he continued his education until his law degree; at Harvard Law School he met Barack Obama .

He then interned with Senator Howell Heflin , clerk to United States District Court Judge Myron Thompson, and worked for the Southern Poverty Law Center before serving as Assistant United States Attorney for four years .

Davis has been married since 2008.

Political career

Congressman (2002-2011)

After practicing law for a few years, Davis embarked on a political career. After two unsuccessful attempts, Davis was able to win the election to the US Congress in the 7th constituency of Alabama in 2002 by winning the long-established incumbent Earl F. Hilliard , who in 1992 became the first Afro-American MP in Alabama in the US Congress since the Reconstruction -Era was defeated in the Democratic primary. In Congress Davis took many socially and fiscal policy conservative positions; He supported a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage , voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act , the extension of the USA Patriot Act and for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge .

Davis spoke out as the first MP outside Illinois for the US presidential candidate Barack Obama, became an important media representative ("surrogate") and rose to national acquaintance with his election. In 2009 and 2010, however, as a member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition , he set himself apart from Obama's prestigious domestic political projects such as health reform; he was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .

Candidate for Governor of Alabama (2010)

In 2010, Davis ran in the Democratic Party primary for governor of Alabama and did not stand for his seat in Congress again. He failed in the primary election and was the first black politician in Alabama to lose the support of Afro-Americans, which some observers attributed to the fact that Davis had turned away from their interests - for example during health reform. Davis then withdrew from politics; Terri Sewell took over his seat in the US House of Representatives on January 3, 2011 . Davis then left Alabama and taught for a few months at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University .

Moving to Republicans (2012)

Davis made headlines again in 2012 when he joined the Republican Party and spoke on behalf of presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention . Davis said Obama spoke nicely but achieved nothing; the Congressional Black Caucus, led by former civil rights activist John Lewis Davis, criticized “obvious opportunism”. Davis has been writing for the conservative National Journal since 2012 . In 2013, he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and expressed an interest in running for the seat of the incessant Republican MP Frank Wolf in the 2014 congressional election in his new home state of Virginia .

Candidate for Mayor of Montgomery (2015)

After Davis had already signaled interest in June 2014, he announced in January 2015 that he would run as mayor of his native Montgomery , capital of Alabama, in the election on August 25, 2015. He announced the hiring of police officers to fight crime, intensive school supervision to improve the educational situation and the settlement of innovative high-tech companies to strengthen economic power as priorities. Davis had previously moved back to Montgomery from northern Virginia. In the election, in which only formally independents can run, he stood as such against the actually Republican incumbent Todd Strange . Roll Call commented that in order for Davis to stand a chance, he would have to repair “burned bridges” to the Democrats, especially to many of the Afro-Americans there, like his congressional successor Terri Sewell, from whom he has become estranged. Davis lost the election surprisingly clearly against the incumbent with 27 to 57 percent of the votes cast (with three other applicants), but announced that he would run for the post again in the next election four years later.

Shortly thereafter, Davis announced his return to the Democrats. In 2016, he became executive director of Legal Services Alabama , a federally funded agency that helps low-income people in Alabama with litigation.

literature

• Gwen Ifill : Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, ISBN 978-0-385-52501-5 , pp. 89-109 (preview) .

Web links

• Artur Davis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Kevin Spann: Artur Davis. In: Encyclopedia of Alabama , May 9, 2014 (English; updated several times)
• Davis, Artur. In: Our Campaigns (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Perry Bacon: Rep. Artur Davis Seeks to Become Alabama's First African American Governor. In: The Washington Post , March 24, 2010.
2. ↑ Gwen Ifill: Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, pp. 89-109, here pp. 90 f.
3. ↑ Gwen Ifill: Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, pp. 89-109, here pp. 95 f.
4. ↑ Gwen Ifill: Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, pp. 89–109, here p. 95 .
5. ↑ Gwen Ifill: Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, pp. 89-109, here p. 91 .
6. ↑ Ken Rudin: Where Did Alabama's Artur Davis Go Wrong? Let Us Count The Ways. In: National Public Radio , June 2, 2010.
7. ↑ Gwen Ifill: Artur Davis. In: dies .: The Breakthrough. Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. Doubleday, New York et al. 2009, pp. 89–109, here p. 96 .
8. ^ Ellis Cose: Why Alabama's Artur Davis Lost the Black Vote. In: Newsweek , June 3, 2010.
9. ^ ^{A b c} Jason Dick: Native Son Bidding for a Sweet Return to Montgomery. In: Roll Call , February 24, 2015.
10. ↑ David A. Fahrenthold: Artur Davis, Who Backed Obama in 2008, to Speak at GOP Convention. In: The Washington Post , August 16, 2012.
11. ^ Lisa Mascaro: Former Rep. Artur Davis Says Why he Left Democrats for GOP. In: LA Times , Aug 28, 2012.
12. ↑ Cameron Joseph: Artur Davis Won't Run for Rep. Wolf's Seat. In: The Hill , December 23, 2013.
13. ↑ Erin Edgemon: Former Congressman Artur Davis Officially Announces Run for Montgomery Mayor. In: AL.com , January 22, 2015.
14. ↑ Erin Edgemon: Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange Wins Third Term in Office. In: AL.com , August 26, 2015.
15. ↑ Andrew J. Yawn: Artur Davis on Loss: 'You Will See Me in Four Years'. In: Montgomery Adviser , August 25, 2015.
16. ↑ Kevin Spann: Artur Davis. In: Encyclopedia of Alabama.