Rep. Artur Davis (D) Elected 2002, 1st term
Born:	Oct. 9, 1967, Montgomery
Home:	Birmingham
Education:	Harvard U., B.A. 1990, J.D. 1993
Religion:	Lutheran
Marital Status:	single
Professional Career:	Asst. U.S. atty., 1994-1998, Practicing atty., 1998-2002
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Alabama celebrates its black heritage more than any other state, building striking memorials to the civil rights movement in Montgomery and Birmingham, commemorating with dignified restraint a history that was full of raucous hatred and moving sacrifice. Blacks first came here as slaves; the last slave ship to the United States, the Clotilde, docked in Mobile in 1859, where its cargo was then set free. Blacks were part of the great migration into the cottonlands after the Jacksonians swept the Indians out of the Southeast and sent them on their Trail of Tears to what is now Oklahoma. Today, Alabama's rural blacks are still clustered in the Black Belt of fertile dark soil across the center of the state: Around Montgomery, where Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of a city bus in 1955 and a young minister named Martin Luther King Jr. led a bus boycott. Around Selma, founded by Alabama's one vice president, William Rufus King, where Sheriff Jim Clark's troops beat up peaceful marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in demonstrations that led to the march on Montgomery and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. All 10 of Alabama's majority-black counties are in the rich farm country of the Black Belt, though not all are contained within the 7th. Most Alabama blacks, however, now live in urban areas--one-quarter in metropolitan Birmingham.

The 7th Congressional District was created in 1992 as a black-majority district. A decade later, the borders had to be changed in redistricting, because the old district was nearly 100,000 below the population standard. Its portion of Montgomery County and black-majority Lowndes County were removed from the 7th and parts of Birmingham and suburban Jefferson County were added. The rest of the district includes Black Belt counties where the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers flow past old plantations, plus part of Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama, and nearby Vance, site of a much sought-after new Mercedes factory. The district thus combines the remnants of Alabama's old cotton economy with neighborhoods built in the shadows of Birmingham's once booming steel mills. Of its 12 counties, 5 are among the 100 poorest in the nation. Although the district's black population dropped from 70% to 62%, it remained solidly Democratic. Even so, Birmingham-based incumbent Earl Hilliard claimed the new plan "hurts me tremendously," and blamed "white racists" among the Democrats' redistricters for his predicament. Whether racism figured into the equation is arguable; either way, more than 40% of the residents were new to Hilliard.

The new congressman from the 7th District is Artur Davis, who was elected at age 35 in 2002. He grew up in Montgomery and was raised by his mother and grandmother. He graduated from Harvard and Harvard Law School, then returned to Alabama. After working as an intern in the Southern Poverty Law Center and as a clerk to federal Judge Myron Thompson, he served four years as an assistant U.S. attorney. Later, he practiced law in Birmingham. In 2000, he decided to challenge Hilliard in the Democratic primary. Davis ran a vigorous campaign, but lost 58%-34%. In that contest, Davis cited Hilliard's controversial trip to Libya, which ignored a State Department ban on travel there because of its designation as a terrorist state, and contended that Hilliard failed to aid his financially pressed district.

In the 2002 rematch between a 28-year political veteran and a young Harvard-trained lawyer, much of the dialogue focused on the Middle East politics and race. Campaign surrogates for Hilliard questioned whether Davis was "black enough" to represent the district. Referring to Davis' background as a federal prosecutor, Hilliard claimed that, "the only thing [Davis] has done for black people is put them in jail." A pro-Hilliard pamphlet contended that, "Asking blacks to vote for [Davis] is like asking a chicken to vote for Colonel Sanders." Davis framed the debate as a generational battle between old-style black machine politics and a fresher, more effective approach--presumably one that didn't involve the diversion of campaign funds, a maneuver for which Hilliard received a letter of reproval from the House Ethics Committee in 2001. But the key to Davis' victory appeared to be strong financial backing from supporters of Israel. In 2000, Davis was unable to match Hilliard's fundraising. But in 2002, by highlighting his strong support for Israel and contrasting it with Hilliard's record, Davis made successful fundraising visits to New York and Washington where he attracted considerable financing from donors sympathetic to his stands on these issues. Support for Davis was spurred when, on May 2, Hilliard was one of only 21 House members to vote against a resolution supporting Israel's fight against terrorism, a vote coming after weeks when Palestinian suicide bombers killed hundreds of Israelis. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus criticized the Democratic leadership for their perceived lack of support for Hilliard; some black members suggested that party leaders were hesitant to confront supporters of Israel and they threatened retaliation.

In the June 4 primary, Hilliard led Davis by only 46%-43% and was forced into a runoff three weeks later. Several House Democratic leaders sent in checks to the incumbent, although not Democratic campaign committee Chairman Nita Lowey. Hilliard took the offensive with an unsubstantiated charge that Davis had been the target of a date-rape accusation and ran an ad that depicted Davis as "for sale" to cigar-smoking fat cats. Several Black Caucus members, plus Al Sharpton, came in to campaign for Hilliard. Davis accused Hilliard of being divisive and called for "healing." Otherwise, the two candidates had relatively few differences on major legislative policy issues. Davis outspent Hilliard by nearly $180,000 and on June 25 won by a 56%-44% margin. Davis, who had no trouble in the general election, quickly reached out to other Black Caucus members; Black Caucus Chairman Elijah Cummings said Davis was welcomed "into the fold. Our members have moved on from that election."

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DC Office
208 CHOB 20515, ; Fax: 202-226-9567; Web site: www.house.gov/arturdavis

State Offices
Birmingham, 205-254-1960; Demopolis, 334-287-0860; Livingston, 205-652-5834; Selma, 334-877-4414; Tuscaloosa, 205-752-5380.

Committees

• Budget (17th of 19 D).
• Financial Services (32d of 32 D): Financial Institutions & Consumer Credit; Housing & Community Opportunity.

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Artur Davis (D)	153,735	92%	$1,441,878
	Lauren Orth McCay (Lib)	12,100	7%
2002 run off	Artur Davis (D)	52,394	56%
	Earl Hilliard (D)	41,162	44%
2002 primary	Earl Hilliard (D)	46,224	46%
	Artur Davis (D)	43,519	43%
	Sam Wiggins (D)	11,315	11%
2000 general	Earl Hilliard (D)	148,243	75%	$432,730
	Ed Martin (R)	46,134	23%	$18,431
	Other	4,256	2%

2000 presidential
	Gore (D)	158,580	66%
	Bush (R)	78,670	33%
	Other	1,827	1%
For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Seventh District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: D +17
• District Size: 8,780 square miles
• Population in 2000: 635,300; 72.2% urban; 27.8% rural
• Median Household Income: $26,672; 24.7% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 28.6% blue collar; 53.4% white collar; 18.0% gray collar; 11.6% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 35.5% White, 61.7% Black, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.6% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 1.3% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 7.1% USA, 3.7% English, 3.5% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.