Last week’s elections might not be a total loss for U.S. Rep. Tom Davis.
Now in the minority, Davis, R-Va., will have free time to campaign for the U.S. Senate, sources close to the veteran congressman told The Examiner.
Officially, Davis and his staff are saying that they hope current Republican Sen. John Warner, 79, runs for his sixth term.
But those close to Davis, 57, say that he will spend his newly acquired free time traveling Virginia, letting local Republicans know that he’s interested in the job if Warner doesn’t run.
Davis markets himself as a centrist Republican. He came to power in the “Republican Revolution” of 1994, but has been a proponent of public works and is pro-choice.
He told The Examiner in a recent interview that his proudest moment as congressman came when he steered through a $1.5 billion Metro bill.
He helped lead his party to victory in the congressional elections in 2002. Immediately afterward, he warned the GOP that its vehement anti-abortion politics would scare off suburban voters.
In two recent elections — the governor’s race last year and Sen. George Allen’s failed re-election this year — the D.C. suburbs in northern Virginia returned heavy majorities for the Democrats.
Davis has also been a friend to the District. He sponsored, and then engineered the early success of, legislation that would give the city a representative in the House.
His work on that and other bills has won the praise of Democrats.
“We have been fortunate to have had a chair for District of Columbia matters from our region who understood the District, respected home rule and had a keen understanding that when you help the District, the entire region moves forward,” D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said in an e-mail to The Examiner.
Tom Davis at a glance
» Born: Jan. 5, 1949, in Minot, N.D.
» Education: Amherst College
» Career: U.S. House, 1995-present; former Senate page; former chair of Fairfax County board, former vice president to high-tech company, PRC, Inc.
» Family: wife, Virginia State Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis; three children: Carlton, 24, Pamela, 21, and Shelley, 18
