Rep. Artur Davis (D) Elected 2002, 2d 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
DC Office	208 CHOB20515, 202-225-2665; 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.
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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. In Selma, founded by Alabama's one vice president, William Rufus King, 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 but most Alabama blacks now live in urban areas--one-quarter in metropolitan Birmingham.

The 7th Congressional District of Alabama was created in 1992 as a black-majority district. It 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 Mercedes factory. But most of its people are in Birmingham and surrounding Jefferson County. The 2002 redistricting removed part of Montgomery County and black-majority Lowndes County just to the west, and more of Birmingham and Jefferson County were added. The district's black percentage dropped from 70% to 62% and more than 40% of the residents were new, but it remained solidly Democratic.

The congressman from the 7th District is Artur Davis, first elected at age 35 in 2002. Davis 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 challenged 7th District incumbent Earl Hilliard in the Democratic primary. He criticized the incumbent's controversial trip to Libya, taken despite the State Department ban on travel in what was then a terrorist state, and argued that Hilliard failed to aid his financially pressed district. Davis ran a vigorous campaign, but lost 58%-34%.

In 2002 Davis ran again, in the altered district. Much of the dialogue focused on race and Middle East politics. 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." Davis framed the debate as a generational battle between old-style black machine politics and a fresher, more effective approach. One key to Davis's victory appeared to be strong financial backing from supporters of Israel: Hilliard was one of only 21 House members to vote against a resolution supporting Israel's fight against terrorism, just weeks after Palestinian suicide bombers killed hundreds of Israelis. Otherwise, the two candidates had relatively few major policy differences. In the June 4 primary, Hilliard led Davis by only 46%-43% and was forced into a runoff. 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 Congressional Black Caucus members, plus Al Sharpton, came in to campaign for Hilliard; some criticized the Democratic leadership for its perceived lack of support for the incumbent. Davis accused Hilliard of being divisive and called for "healing." Outspending Hilliard by nearly $180,000, Davis won the June 25 runoff 56%-44%. He had no trouble winning in November.

In the House Davis quickly reached out to other Black Caucus members, though some tensions remained from Hilliard's allies. Davis has a moderate voting record for House Democrats, with a less liberal ranking than Hilliard. He focused on rural issues--environmentally unsafe landfills, inadequate supplies of doctors and hospitals. Working with a bipartisan coalition, he called for trade protection to level the playing field with China; his particular concerns were the steel and catfish industries. Following a visit to Israel, he said that the United States must remain "an engaged partner to our ally Israel," and he discussed common bonds between American blacks and Jews.

Davis told local audiences that blacks must move beyond a preoccupation with race. "Too many of us, black and white, are teaching our children first and foremost about what separates us," he said. He also criticized national Democrats--including John Kerry's presidential campaign--for calling on black lawmakers only to rally black voters. In the 2004 primary, Davis was challenged by Albert Turner, a son of a leader of Selma's "Bloody Sunday" march. Turner criticized Davis for not giving sufficient priority to Black Belt needs and called him a self-promoter. With endorsements from most leading local Democrats, Davis won 88%-12%, a bigger margin than even he expected. In the general, against former NASA engineer Steve Cameron, who said he wanted to recruit more black Christians to the Republican Party, Davis won 75%-25%. He has said he plans to run for statewide office in the future. He told the Mobile Register in 2005 that he would not challenge Senator Jeff Sessions in 2008 or run for governor against a Democratic incumbent; Davis also said he would run for Senate if Richard Shelby decides not to run for reelection in 2010.

Committees

• Budget (10th of 17 D).
• Financial Services (27th of 32 D): Capital Markets, Insurance & Government Sponsored Enterprises; Housing & Community Opportunity; Oversight & Investigations.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	75	70	75	64	90	12	71	24	6	33	--
2003	90	--	100	60	--	23	50	32	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	60%	--	40%		60%	--	40%
Social	67%	--	31%		64%	--	35%
Foreign	70%	--	27%		66%	--	33%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 3. Medicare/Rx Bill N 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. Y 5. DC School Vouchers N 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War N 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Artur Davis (D)	183,408	75%	$1,068,606
	Steve Cameron (R)	61,019	25%
	Other	211	0%
2004 primary	Artur Davis (D)	58,793	88%
	Albert Turner (D)	8,061	12%
2002 general	Artur Davis (D)	153,735	92%	$1,441,878
	Lauren Orth McCay (Lib)	12,100	7%

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 160,875 (64%) Bush (R) 88,433 (35%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 158,580 (66%) Bush (R) 78,670 (33%)

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.