Rep. Jim Davis (D) Elected 1996, 5th term
Born:	Oct. 11, 1957, Tampa
Home:	Tampa
Education:	Wash. & Lee U., B.A. 1979, U. of FL, J.D. 1982
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Peggy)
Elected  Office:	FL House of Reps., 1988-96, Maj. Ldr. 1994-96.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1982-96.
DC Office	409 CHOB20515, 202-225-3376; Fax: 202-225-5652; Web site: www.house.gov/jimdavis
State Offices	St. Petersburg, 727-867-5301; Tampa, 813-354-9217.
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Tampa, one of America's boomtowns, has a history that goes back not much more than a century. Its industrial past can be traced to 1886, when Cuban cigarmakers left Key West for what became the Ybor City neighborhood. Then Tampa became the major embarkation port for U.S. troops in the Spanish-American War of 1898. It also became a major citrus distribution center. The old industrial city developed along the waterfront, where today you can find what is billed as the world's longest sidewalk (6.5 miles along Bayshore Boulevard); you can also see the 13 minarets on the Arabian-style Tampa Bay Hotel built by railroad and real-estate tycoon Henry B. Plant in the 1890s (now part of the University of Tampa). For a time, Tampa was Florida's one industrial city. Now, it has a diversified economy: A healthy service sector, the University of Tampa and the University of South Florida, and tourist attractions led by Busch Gardens. Tampa's subdivisions and condominiums, office towers and low-rise commercial buildings have spread inland across swamps and lowlands.

Through all of this, and in contrast to St. Petersburg with its many retirees, Tampa has remained a city of families and young people; seniors account for only about one in eight residents here, an unusually low percentage for Florida. As Tampa expands, its blue-collar character is quickly moving upscale. In January 2005, Donald Trump announced a 52-story luxury condominium on the Hillsborough River in the city. Tampa is also an important military center. MacDill Air Force Base, on the south side of Tampa jutting into Tampa Bay, is the headquarters of Central Command, which ran the Persian Gulf War and the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and of Special Operations Command. Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Tommy Franks, retired after their successful commands in the same gated community in Tampa.

The 11th Congressional District of Florida is centered on Tampa, but has irregular boundaries. It includes most of the city of Tampa and close-in suburbs, the east shore of Tampa Bay, plus two areas across Tampa Bay. One is the heavily black and lower-income neighborhoods south of Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. The other is a strip of Manatee County bordering Tampa Bay that includes working-class neighborhoods in Memphis, Palmetto and Bradenton, as well as the world headquarters of the Tropicana juice company. Connecting them is the distinctive Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a four-mile span completed in 1987 that has come to symbolize the Tampa Bay area. The district has a population that is 27% black and 20% Hispanic, making it the most heavily minority district in Florida outside the Gold Coast and the Jacksonville-to-Orlando 3d District. While Hillsborough County as a whole voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, the 11th District cast solid majorities for Al Gore and John Kerry.

The congressman from the 11th District is Jim Davis, a Democrat first elected in 1996. Davis grew up in Tampa as the grandson of a former mayor, returned after law school, and was elected in 1988, at 31, to the state House. There he showed insider skills and interests; after the 1994 election, he was elected majority leader--the most recent Democrat to hold that job, since Republicans won a majority in 1996. That year, Congressman Sam Gibbons decided to retire after 34 years. Davis was far from the best-known candidate, but he showed great skill at raising money and was the only one running TV ads for the September primary. Sandy Freedman, Tampa's mayor from 1986 to 1995, led Davis in the primary 35%-25%. Both supported the balanced budget amendment, the 1996 welfare act and called for more managed care. Davis won the runoff 56%-44% and in the general faced Republican Mark Sharpe, who had given Gibbons two close contests. He attacked Davis as a fan of higher taxes and a career politician. Davis insisted he was a New Democrat, supporting the Defense of Marriage Act and opposing the penny-per-pound sugar tax on the Florida ballot. Davis won by a solid 58%-42%.

Davis's record has moved toward the center of the House, especially on foreign policy. He was elected the Democratic freshman class president. After securing a deal to liberalize trade in manufactured fertilizers, whose chief U.S. shipping port is Tampa, Davis voted for normal trade relations with China. He voted for trade promotion authority after he got protection for Florida citrus. In February 2003 he was the first member of Congress from Florida to openly travel to Castro's Cuba. He became an outspoken proponent of permitting the Cuban government to purchase U.S. food and for relaxing travel restrictions to the island; he remained a supporter of the overall trade embargo. Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart called Davis's trip "a disgrace," but Davis said that the United States "should not be in the business of separating families." Despite vociferous opposition, the House in September 2004 passed two Davis amendments to liberalize travel to Cuba, including "people to people" exchanges plus family visits. In 2003, he got a seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee after being "deeply, deeply disappointed" over his failure to win it in 2001. He worked with Republican Charlie Bass on what they called a compromise proposal to tighten carbon dioxide emissions. He proposed a bill to spend $200 million in 10 years on new plants that filter salt from seawater.

In February 2005 Davis announced that he was running for governor in 2006. He had talked of running for governor in 2002, but decided not to. He is one of the few prominent Democratic officeholders in Florida with a relatively moderate record of the sort that enabled Reubin Askew, Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham to win statewide office in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It seems likely that Democrats will hold this House seat. In March 2005, state Senator Les Miller and lawyer Scott Farrell had announced they were running and Hillsborough County Commissioner Kathy Castor, whose mother Betty Castor lost the Senate race to Mel Martinez in 2004, announced in April she would run.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (20th of 26 D): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Energy & Air Quality; Health.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	90	60	88	100	80	16	48	4	8	15	--
2003	85	--	100	100	--	27	41	25	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	76%	--	24%		69%	--	31%
Social	69%	--	30%		73%	--	25%
Foreign	55%	--	45%		62%	--	36%
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 N		7. Restrict Gun Liability N  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage N 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Jim Davis (D)	191,780	86%	$630,804
	Robert Johnson (Lib)	31,579	14%	$32,700
2004 primary	Jim Davis (D)	unopposed
2002 general	Jim Davis (D)	unopposed
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (85%); 1998 (65%); 1996 (58%)

2004 Presidential Vote Kerry (D) 145,831 (58%) Bush (R) 103,748 (41%)

2000 Presidential Vote Gore (D) 120,926 (61%) Bush (R) 77,367 (39%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Eleventh 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 +11
• District Size: 460 square miles
• Population in 2000: 639,295; 99.6% urban; 0.4% rural
• Median Household Income: $33,559; 17.5% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 21.2% blue collar; 61.4% white collar; 17.4% gray collar; 13.1% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 48.3% White, 27.4% Black, 2.0% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.1% Hawaiian, 1.7% Two+ races, 0.2% Other, 20.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 7.6% German, 6.6% Irish, 5.8% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.