Donald G. Davis

Davis was born in the town of Snow Hill and attended Snow Hill Primary School and West Greene Elementary School. He attended public schools in Durham and Wake counties. In 1989, Davis graduated from McArthur High School in Irving, Texas. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences degree from the United States Air Force Academy. Davis earned a Master of Science in Administration degree with a concentration in general administration from Central Michigan University and a Master of Arts in Sociology degree with a concentration in social issues in regional development from East Carolina University. He also earned a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership degree with a concentration in higher education administration from East Carolina University. Davis has completed courses in the Commissioned Lay Minister Program through the New Hope Presbytery, Presbyterian Church United States of America.

Elected mayor in 2001, Davis also served as chairman of the First Congressional District Democratic Party. He filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in the First District in 2004, but then dropped out before the primary election.[2]

In 2005, Davis was reelected as mayor. On October 1, 2007, Davis announced plans to file for the North Carolina Senate District 5 seat. Davis was one of six Democratic candidates who filed for the seat held by retiring North Carolina Senator John Kerr, III. He was the leading vote-getter with 36 percent of the vote in the May 6, 2008 Primary Election.

Short of the 40% margin required to avoid a second primary election, Kathy Taft of Pitt County called for a runoff. On June 24, 2008, Davis seized the Democratic nomination after obtaining 63% of the votes in the second primary election. Davis faced North Carolina Representative Louis Pate, a Wayne County Republican, in the general election.

On November 4, 2008, Davis was elected to serve as the next senator for the Fifth Senatorial District of North Carolina, with 53% of the votes. His term officially began January 1, 2009.[3]

In a rematch of the 2008 election, Davis was defeated for re-election by Louis Pate in November 2010.[4]

Davis ran unopposed in 2016. He faced Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb in November 2018, and defeated her, gaining re-election.[5]

Davis claim to pro choice but his vote record shows he pro life, In 2015, Davis — and eight other Democrats in the state Senate — voted for a bill proposed by then-North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) that would have formally banned the sale of fetal parts. The bill also made permanent a provision in the budget denying future state funding for the provision of “family planning” services to groups such as Planned Parenthood that also perform abortions. Smith voted against the bill.Davis was also one of four Democratic state senators to vote in favor of the 2017 budget, and the only Democratic state senator to vote in favor of the 2018 budget. Both bills allotted at least $1 million to an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center.” “Crisis pregnancy centers” are a euphemism for religious institutions that often use misleading arguments to dissuade people from obtaining abortions.And finally, in 2019, Davis was one of just two Democratic state senators to vote for Republicans’ “born alive” legislation making it a felony not to treat a baby born in the course of a late-term abortion as a person. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed the bill on the grounds that existing law protects newborns and the bill was designed to erode abortion rights. Davis was the only Democrat to vote to override Cooper’s veto, providing the deciding vote in the Senate needed to pass the bill into law.The North Carolina pro-choice group, Lillian’s List, reacted to that vote by publicly soliciting a primary challenger to run against Davis in 2020, a task in which the group was ultimately unsuccessful.[6]

Other than that Don Davis was also one of only two democrats to vote for an amendment to the North Carolina constitution that would have restricted voting rights.[7] A law that North Carolina courts eventually struck down because it targeted African American voters.[8]

• NC General Assembly: Sen. Don Davis (Official state site)
• Campaign website