Congressman Artur Davis has declared his candidacy for Governor of Alabama. During his service in the U.S. House of Representatives, Davis has established a solid reputation as an advocate for working families and traditional values.
A profile in CQ Politics describes the challenges facing Davis and his mainstream approach to issues:
Artur Davis is a politically savvy, middle-of-the-road Democrat who advocates both an activist federal government and culturally conservative policies. He says his views and voting record represent the mainstream in his district and in the country, and he is eager to test his appeal statewide.
Davis has turned his eye to the governor’s seat in 2010; Republican Gov. Bob Riley is term-limited. Even in Alabama, a state with a troubled history of race relations, Davis sees fresh opportunity for black politicians. “Race tells us less than it ever has in American political life,” he said. “Those hurdles are coming down and the change that is producing in American society is as profound as the collapse of the Berlin Wall was in Europe.” If elected, Davis would be the first black governor of a state in the Deep South.
Davis said the elimination of term limits for committee chairs and the challenge of winning re-election every two years has led him and other younger House members to look at greener pastures. “In this environment, retention is going to become harder,” he said in January 2009. “It can take 30 years or longer to chair a major committee.”
He insists he could win over voters based on shared views and values. “When I drive down I-95 to visit my mother in Montgomery, I see a giant Confederate flag. That’s part of our history that we live with every day. We were simultaneously the first Confederate capital and the first capital of the civil rights movement,” he says. “It’s not my task to repudiate history; it’s my task to find common ground based on our shared history.”
But he also thinks his party undercuts its potential popularity by supporting positions “out of touch” with the mainstream. While Davis thinks the government should help lift people out of poverty –– his district is the fifth-poorest in the nation –– he also supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In 2007, he voted against a bill that would prohibit workplace discrimination against gays.
He was one of 63 Democrats in 2003 to vote for a conservative-backed ban on what opponents call “partial birth” abortion, a controversial procedure for ending pregnancies. In 2005, he was one of 44 Democrats supporting a renewal of the 2001 anti-terrorism law known as the Patriot Act; he also supported an overhaul of the law allowing the government to eavesdrop on foreign terrorists in 2008. He was among 27 House Democrats voting in 2006 to allow oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003026972
3 comments:
Artur Davis is an impressive guy and I wish him all the luck in the world. I grew up in Alabama and know what a challenge he faces. Thanks for posting this. I really enjoyed hearing the speech.
A shame about the "Patriot" Act stuff, but apart from that, this is excellent news.
Hmm, interesting what is called mainstream here, most Americans oppose a Federal Marriage Amendment, and most also think GLBT people shouldn't be discriminated against in employment.
Not to mention his vote to unnecessarily regulate a necessary medical procedure that those who are ignorant of it call partial birth abortion, not to mention his vote on ANWR, which is based, at best, on overly optimistic estimates that it contains enough oil to last the US a whole 300 days at current consumption rates or, to put it another way, make a dent in gas prices of about one quarter of a cent, give or take.
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