Америкалық саяхатшы және заңгер Артур Дэйвис

American attorney and politician (born 1967)

Artur Genestre Davis (/ɑr/'/t//ʊər/; born October 9, 1967) is an American attorney and former politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2003 to 2011. He was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Alabama in the 2010 election. After losing in the primary, he moved to Virginia and joined the Republican 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 elected Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama in the 2015 and 2019 elections, losing both times. Davis was an early supporter of Barack 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 the 2008 Democratic National Convention. While serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, Davis was the first African American member of Congress to advocate that Committee Chairman Charles 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 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to do so. In 2009, Davis sought to become Alabama's first African American Governor. 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. A resident of Virginia from 2011 until 2014, Davis spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention in support of the Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney.

Davis was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on October 9, 1967, and was raised by his mother and grandmother. He graduated from Jefferson Davis High School and then magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1990. He earned a J. D. cum laude from Harvard Law School before returning to Alabama. He was the recipient of the Best Oralist Award in the Ames Moot Court Competition at Harvard Law School. After working as an intern at the Southern Poverty Law Center and then as a civil rights lawyer. he served as an Assistant United States Attorney.

As a freshman in Congress, Davis led the successful fight to reverse funding cuts for minority land grant colleges including Tuskegee University. As a second term member, Davis won a floor fight to restore funding to the HOPE 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. He received an A− grade on his voting record relating to veteran issues from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Davis was appointed to the Senior Whip Team for the Democratic Caucus of the 109th Congress and was the co chair of the centrist House New Democrat Coalition, as well as the Southern Regional co chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Davis was the first member of the Congressional Black Caucus to demand that former House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel surrender his gavel in the wake of an ongoing ethics investigation. Davis twice voted against the Democratic supported health care reform legislation, first in November 2009, and again in March 2010 when the legislation passed and was signed into law by President Obama. He was the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus to vote against the legislation in March 2010;

In April 2009, Davis voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

In Congress, Davis was a member of the House Committee on the Budget, Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on the Judiciary and several of their subcommittees. He was a member of the 30 Something Working Group and the Congressional Black Caucus.

On February 6, 2009, Davis announced his candidacy for Governor of Alabama in 2010. His opponent in the Democratic primary was state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks. 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. 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." After the primary, state Representative Roderick Scott said black Democrats “can no longer take for granted they will receive the African American vote.” Davis announced he was retiring from politics and would return to private practice at the conclusion of his term in Congress in 2011. Davis was succeeded by Democrat Terri 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 the Alabama Republican Party had declined to embrace politicians who have switched parties such as former U. S. Congressman Parker 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. In the Spring of 2012, he announced he would become a visiting fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. In 2012, the conservative National Review online started publishing some of his political commentary. In February 2012, Davis told Politico 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. In August 2012, he cited remarks by Vice President Joe Biden for "racial viciousness" Davis spoke at the Republican National Convention in August 2012 to voice additional criticisms of Barack Obama. Following Mitt Romney's loss in the 2012 presidential election, Davis said: "The Republican conservative base seems perilously close to shrinking to white southern evangelicals, senior white males, and upper income Protestants." In December 2013, it was announced that Davis would not run for retiring Republican Congressman Frank Wolf's seat in Virginia. Davis had previously expressed interest in running for Wolf's seat after his move to the state. In late June 2014, it was reported that Davis was considering running for Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, in 2015. On July 18, 2014, Davis announced that he would launch an exploratory campaign for a mayoral run. On January 22, 2015, he officially declared his candidacy as a Democrat. Davis was also a candidate for Mayor of Montgomery in the August 2019 mayoral election, but lost again, winning 1,784 votes and placing sixth of twelve candidates.