Rodney Davis (politician)

On May 19, 2012, the Republican County Chairmen for the 14 Illinois counties comprising the 13th district nominated Davis as the Republican candidate in the 13th district. This district had previously been the 15th, represented by six-term incumbent Republican Tim Johnson. Johnson had announced in April that he would not seek re-election, just days after winning the Republican primary. Other finalists for the nomination were Jerry Clarke, chief of staff to fellow U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren and Johnson's former chief of staff; Erika Harold, a lawyer and winner of Miss America in 2003; and Kathy Wassink, a businesswoman.[5] Davis was coaching his sons' little league baseball game when he was informed that he had been nominated.[6] His home in Taylorville had previously been in Shimkus' 19th District (which had been renumbered as the new 15th). However, the new 13th had absorbed much of the old 19th's northern portion, including Taylorville.

In the general election, Davis narrowly defeated Democrat David M. Gill by a margin of 1,002 votes (0.3%). Independent candidate John Hartman received around 21,000 votes (7.2%).[7]

On June 13, 2013, former Miss America Erika Harold announced she would run against Davis in the 2014 Republican primary.[8] The primary took place on March 18, 2014.

The Republican field included Davis, Harold, and Michael Firsching.[9] Davis won the primary with 55% of the vote.[9]

Davis faced Democrat Ann Callis in the general election on November 4, 2014.[10] He was reportedly a top target for the Democrats[11] but won the general election with 59% of the vote.[12][13]

Davis won re-election in 2016. He defeated Ethan Vandersand in the primary and faced Democrat Mark Wicklund and independent David Gill in the general election on November 8, 2016.[14] Davis received 59.7% of the vote.[15]

On March 20, 2018, Betsy Londrigan won the Democratic primary in District 13 with over 45% of the vote, beating Erik Jones, David Gill, Jonathan Ebel, and Angel Sides.[16]

In May 2018, the American Federation of Government Employees endorsed Davis for re-election. AFGE District 7 National Vice President Dorothy James said, “We hope that Rep. Davis will continue his good work on Capitol Hill for years to come and are happy to announce our support for him today.”[17]

On November 6, 2018, Davis won re-election 50.7% to 49.3% in the narrowest re-election win of his career. Davis lost the district's shares of Champaign, McLean, and Sangamon counties. However, he carried Christian County and Macon County. His margins in both Christian and Macon far exceeded his overall margin of 2,058 votes.[18]

During the campaign, Davis claimed that The Washington Post fact-checker had found his opponent's claims about the impact of Obamacare's repeal on preexisting conditions to be false. The Washington Post fact-checker responded, saying that Davis was "twisting an unrelated fact check and [was] misleading voters."[19]

Davis ran for a fifth term and was unopposed in the Republican primary. Londrigan ran again, and easily won the Democratic primary. Although the race was widely considered a tossup due to the close margin in 2018, Davis won reelection by 9 points.[20] His larger margin of victory was attributed to both an increase in turnout from the district's Republican-leaning rural counties, and a decrease in the district's college campuses. While Londrigan attempted to tie Davis to President Trump, he linked her to Illinois House Speaker and State Democratic Party Chair Mike Madigan, who was broadly unpopular.

In addition to his own re-election, Davis also was Co-Chairman of the Trump re-election campaign in Illinois.[21]

Davis introduced the Hire More Heroes Act of 2013 into the House on November 13, 2013. The bill would allow employers to exclude veterans receiving health insurance from the United States Department of Defense or the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs from their list of employees.[22][23] This would have had the effect of keeping their list of employees shorter, allowing some small businesses to fall underneath the 50 full-time employees line that would require them to provide their employees with healthcare under the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.[23][24] Davis said that the bill "gives our small businesses another incentive to hire veterans, which helps to address the increasing number of unemployed veterans, while providing them with some relief from ObamaCare."[24]

He voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.[25] He voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.[26]

Davis voted for H.J.Res.59 – Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014, which resulted in the Government Shutdown of 2013. After the vote, Politico reported that Davis also intended to vote for a bill that would end the shutdown, stressing that an agreement needed to be made and that "Like most of those I represent, I remain opposed to Obamacare, but a government shutdown is absolutely unacceptable."[27][28][29][30][31]

Davis voted to lift a ban on travel to Cuba.[32] In June 2016, Davis cast the deciding vote on a bill to retain the ability of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children to join the U.S. military. The program would allow a quicker pathway to citizenship for those who serve.[32]

During the 115th Congress, Davis was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership and served as chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus.[33][34] As of March 2018, Davis had voted in line with President Donald Trump's position 96.5 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight.[35]

On May 4, 2017, Davis voted again to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA).[36][37]

Davis voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[38] He said the tax bill will improve the economy without impacting the deficit. He said Americans will see "more money in the pockets" come February 2018 as a result of the bill.[39]

Davis said in a June 2018 interview that "we've got to stop this politicizing everything like dinner." He added that "Donald Trump was elected, in my opinion, because of this move toward making everything politically correct in this country."[40]

On December 18, 2019, Davis voted against both articles of impeachment against Trump.[41]

Davis voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, saying the process was rushed and would heighten division at a time when the country needs unity, and "could lead to additional violence."[42]

On January 6, 2021, Davis was at the US Capitol to certify the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when the U.S. Capitol was stormed. Davis and his staff went into hiding under police lockdown for over four hours during the attack.[43] After the Capitol was secure and Congress resumed session, Davis certified the election without objection.[44] As a result of the attack, Trump was impeached a second time. Davis voted no on impeachment stating "there must be accountability for leaders who deliberately misled the public, but I fear that without thoughtful and clear-eyed leadership from both sides of the aisle, we are in danger of further violence and political unrest.”[45] In the wake of the attack, metal detectors were placed outside the House chamber. Davis objected to metal detectors.[46][47]

• Climate Solutions Caucus.[48]
• Tuesday Group[49]
• Veterinary Medicine Caucus[50]

Davis has a "B" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes. Davis supports veterans having access to medical marijuana if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor and if it is legal for medicinal purposes in their state of residence. He supports industrial hemp farming and medical marijuana research.[51]

In an April 2018 interview, Davis expressed concern about the impact of proposed tariffs on Illinois soybean farmers and other Illinois agricultural workers, but was glad that President Trump had given “a lot of free rein” to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Davis highlighted unfair trade practices by China and noted the adverse effect on the domestic steel industry.[52] Months later, in June, he reiterated concern about some of President Trump's proposed tariffs impact on his constituents as well as their impact on certain foreign countries. Although he felt “the president was right to actually address the steel discrepancy that he saw from countries like China,” he wished that Trump “would focus on...actors like China rather than punishing our allies.”[53]

In March 2018, in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Davis said the shooting could have been prevented if the perpetrator had been charged with a felony for bringing a gun to school earlier. Davis said he believed more funding should be directed to mental health programs and that loopholes in background checks should be closed, but that he did not see banning guns as a solution.[54]

In June 2018, Davis told an interviewer that he hoped to co-sponsor a “stand-alone bill” that would address the separation of adult illegal aliens at the Mexican border from the children accompanying them. He expressed optimism that the Congress could come up with some compromise on these issues.[40]

In a December 26, 2017, interview on CNN, Davis said that the U.S. would see increase tax revenue because of the economic growth resulting from the tax cut, and this, in turn, would bring down the national deficit.[55]

Davis opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the health of the mother.[56]