James Oscar Davis III (born October 11, 1957) is an American politician from the U.S. state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. He is a Democrat and served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2007, representing Florida's 11th congressional district. He was the Democratic nominee for

governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in the 2006 election, but was defeated by Republican

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...

Early life and education

Davis was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough ...

. He graduated from Jesuit High School of Tampa in 1975, and attended

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

, where he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1979. He later attended the University of Florida's

College of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, l ...

, received his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

in 1982. He later credited his grandfather as an important influence on his life.

Career

Davis worked as a lawyer in private practice from 1982 to 1988, when he became a partner in the Tampa-based business

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to ...

of Bush, Ross, Gardner, Warren & Rudy. Davis was elected to the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopt ...

in 1989 and served until 1996, serving as

House Majority Leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are e ...

from 1995 to 1996.

US House

Davis entered the race for the Tampa-based 11th District in 1996, after

Sam Gibbons Sam Melville Gibbons (January 20, 1920 – October 10, 2012) was an American politician from the state of Florida, who served in the Florida State House of Representatives, Florida State Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. He represen ...

—the district's only congressman since its creation in 1963—announced his retirement. Although Gibbons had endorsed Davis as his successor, Davis finished second in a four-way Democratic primary behind former Tampa mayor Sandy Freedman. He won the runoff with 56 percent of the vote. He faced Republican Mark Sharpe in the general election. The race was initially thought to be close, especially since Sharpe had nearly defeated Gibbons in 1994 and held him to 52 percent in 1992. However, Davis won by a convincing 15-point margin, largely due to

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

carrying the district. After defeating an underfunded Republican in 1998, Davis faced only a Libertarian candidate in 2000 and 2004 and was completely unopposed in 2002. Davis was one of the co-chairs of the

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of ...

in the House of Representatives. The New Democrat Coalition is affiliated with the centrist

Democratic Leadership Council The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was founded in 1985 and closed in 2011. Founded and directed by Al From, prominent members include Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton (who was elected president in 1992 and 1996), Delaware Senator Joe Biden ( ...

. On October 10, 2002, Jim Davis was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

2006 gubernatorial campaign

Davis announced his candidacy for governor of Florida in 2005 and won the Democratic primary held on September 5, 2006. He defeated then-state Senator Rod Smith by a margin of 46 percent to 42 percent. He received the endorsements of former U.S. President

, U.S. senator for Florida

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flo ...

, U.S. senator for Illinois

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

, former Governor and U.S. Senator

Bob Graham Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham (born November 9, 1936) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States senator from Florida from 1987 to 2005. He is a member of the De ...

, former Governor

Buddy MacKay Kenneth Hood "Buddy" MacKay Jr. (born March 22, 1933) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 42nd governor of Florida for 24 days from December 1998 to January 1999, upon the death of Lawton Chiles. A member of the Democratic Pa ...

, former First Lady Rhea Chiles (wife of

Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United State ...

), former Tallahassee mayor and

Florida Democratic Party The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Florida, headquartered in Tallahassee. Former mayor of Miami Manny Diaz Sr. is the current chair. Andrew Jackson, the first territorial governo ...

chairman

Scott Maddox Scott Charles Maddox (born March 13, 1968) is an American politician. He was the mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, from 1995 to 1996 and from 1997 to 2005. Maddox is the former chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a former Tallahassee City Comm ...

, Miami-Dade Democratic Party chairman Jimmy Morales, and Representatives

Alcee Hastings Alcee Lamar Hastings ( ; September 5, 1936 – April 6, 2021) was an American politician and judge from the state of Florida. Hastings was nominated to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida by President Jimmy Cart ...

Robert Wexler Robert Ira Wexler (born January 2, 1961) is an American politician and lawyer from Florida. He is the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Wexler was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Represe ...

, Corrine Brown, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He lost the race to Attorney General

by a margin of 52–45.

Post-political career

, Davis is employed at Holland & Knight in Tampa. In 2010, Davis has been a member of and public speaker for Moving Hillsborough Forward, an organization formed to help pass a transit tax referendum on the 2010 general election ballot in Hillsborough County. In 2010, Davis was a member of and public speaker for Moving Hillsborough Forward, an organization formed to help pass a transit tax referendum on the general election ballot in Hillsborough County. Though there was some speculation that he might potentially run for Mayor of Tampa in 2011, he ultimately declined to run. Though then-Mayor Pam Iorio declared that Davis would be an "excellent" successor, it was speculated that the defeat of the rail referendum by voters left Davis with no platform to run for Mayor on. Davis is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of

Issue One Issue One is an American nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the role of money in politics. It aims to increase public awareness of what it views as problems within the present campaign finance system, and to reduce the influ ...

Electoral history

{, class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%" , + : Results 1996–2006 !, Year ! !, Democrat !, Votes !, Pct ! !, Republican !, Votes !, Pct ! !, 3rd Party !, Party !, Votes !, Pct ! , - ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, , , , align="right" , 108,522 , , 57.9% , , , ''Mark Sharpe'' , align="right" , 78,881 , , 42.1% , , , , , , , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , , Jim Davis , align="right" , 85,262 , , 64.9% , , , ''Joe Chillura'' , align="right" , 46,176 , , 35.1% , , , , , , , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, , , Jim Davis , align="right" , 149,433 , , 84.6% , , , ''(no candidate)'' , align="right" , , , , , , Charlie Westlake , , Libertarian , align="right" , 27,194 , align="right" , 15.4% , , - ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, , , Jim Davis , align="right" , Unopposed , , 100% , , , ''(no candidate)'' , align="right" , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, , , Jim Davis , align="right" , 191,780 , , 85.8% , , , ''(no candidate)'' , align="right" , , , , , , Robert Edward Johnson , , Libertarian , align="right" , 31,579 , align="right" , 14.1% ,

Personal life

Davis's wife is Peggy Bessent Davis. The couple have two children, Peter and William. He is a member of the Episcopal Church.

References

External links

Biography
from

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Voting record maintained by the Washington PostJim Davis Papers
at th
University of South Florida
* , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Jim 1957 births Living people 21st-century American politicians American Episcopalians Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni Holland & Knight people Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida Jesuit High School (Tampa) alumni Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Politicians from Tampa, Florida Washington and Lee University alumni