REP. DANNY K. DAVIS (D-IL)
Daniel K. Davis (born September 6, 1941) is an American politician who is the U.S. Representative from Illinois’s 7th congressional district, elected in 1996. The district serves much of western Chicago, including the Loop. It also includes several of Chicago’s inner western suburbs, such as Bellwood, Oak Park, and River Forest. Davis is a Democrat, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus,[1][2] the Progressive Caucus, and is also one of three members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) serving in Congress.[3] Davis was one of 31 U.S. Representatives who voted against counting the electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 presidential election.
Davis was born in Parkdale, Arkansas, and educated at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff; B.A. in history, 1961), Chicago State University (M.S. in guidance, 1968), and the Union Institute & University in Cincinnati, Ohio (Ph.D. in public administration, 1977).[5]
Davis worked as a government clerk, a high school teacher, executive director of the Greater Lawndale Conservation Commission, director of training at the Martin L. King Neighborhood Health Center, and executive director of the Westside Health Center before entering politics, where he represented Chicago’s 29th Ward on the Chicago City Council from 1979 until 1990.[6]
He challenged Congresswoman Cardiss Collins in Democratic primaries in 1984 and 1986, but lost both races. Davis was then elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners, serving from 1990 to 1996 before entering the House.[7] Davis had also waged an unsuccessful campaign against Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley in the 1991 Democratic mayoral primary.
