Congressman Danny Davis, 83, who has been representing the seventh District of Illinois for fifteen phrases within the Home, introduced Thursday that he is not going to search reelection in 2026. First elected November 5, 1996, Davis has been re-elected by massive majorities to succeeding Congresses.
Earlier than being elected to Congress, Davis served on the Prepare dinner County Board of Commissioners, and for eleven years he was a member of the Chicago Metropolis Council as Alderman of the twenty ninth Ward.
Previous to public service, Congressman Davis was an educator, neighborhood organizer, well being planner and administrator, and a civil rights advocate. Congressman Davis earned a Bachelor of Arts diploma from Arkansas A.M. & N. He accomplished each Grasp’s and Doctorate levels from Chicago State College and the Union Institute, respectively. He has additionally been awarded six honorary Doctorate Levels.
Lauded as one of the crucial liberal members of Congress, problems with racial equality had been central to the Congressman’s political profession. He’s a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and serves on the Home Committee on Methods and Means.
In response to AP Information, in 2016, Davis was one of many Home Democrats who participated in a sit-in demanding a vote on gun management measures. Later that 12 months, gun management measures turned private to the Congressman when his 15-year-old grandson, Javon Wilson, was fatally shot in Chicago.
Congressman Davis was co-chair of the Congressional Black Males and Boys Caucus–formed after the demise of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager, a sufferer of profiling who was fatally shot. Davis, who shared that he had been a sufferer of racial profiling when he was pulled over by two white cops in Chicago, pushed for laws that will ban the observe.
In his assertion, Davis reminded everybody of the significance of empowering younger individuals “who can develop into management”. He additionally warned about tyrants and efforts to reverse Democratic well being care efforts.
“There are efforts proper now underway to attempt to diminish Medicare, Medicaid,” he mentioned Thursday. “If these applications are severely diminished, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of individuals is not going to have entry to well being care.”
“We’re not going to go away,” Davis mentioned, supported by his spouse, native pastors and congressmen. “However the time has come.”