Susan Davis (politician)


Susan Carol Davis is a former American politician who served as the U.S. representative for for one term and for nine terms from 2001 to 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Her district included central and eastern portions of the city of San Diego, as well as eastern suburbs such as El Cajon, La Mesa, Spring Valley, and Lemon Grove.
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Early life, education, and career

Davis was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has spent most of her life in California. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority. She earned a master's degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her husband Steve Davis was a doctor in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. After returning to California, she became a social worker in San Diego.

Early political career

Davis became active in politics through her membership in the local branch of the League of Women Voters, of which she became president in 1977. She was elected to the board of San Diego Unified School District in 1983. She served there until 1992, including two years as president of the body.
In 1994, she was elected to the California State Assembly, and was reelected in 1996 and 1998. In the Assembly, Davis chaired the Committee on Consumer Protection, Government Efficiency and Economic Development. She authored a state law giving women direct access to their OB/Gyn doctors without requiring a referral from their primary care physicians. Other legislation she authored established the right of a patient to obtain a second medical opinion and allowed frail senior citizens to remain in their homes while receiving state-funded nursing care. She introduced laws to reward high-achieving teachers and to establish after-school programs at public schools.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 2000, Davis challenged three-term Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray in what was then the 49th district, winning with 50 percent of the vote. Her district was renumbered the 53rd district after the 2000 census redistricting and made somewhat more Democratic than its predecessor. Following the redistricting, she was reelected eight times without much difficulty. She is the first Democrat to represent what is now the 53rd district for more than one term in over half a century. The only other Democrat to represent this district since the Harry Truman administration, Lynn Schenk, was toppled by Bilbray in the 1994 Republican wave.
Davis introduced a federal version of the California OB/Gyn law she authored at the start of every Congress from 2001 to 2009. Provisions of her OB/Gyn bill were included in the health care reform bill enacted into law.
In 2011, Davis voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 as part of a controversial provision that allows the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.
Davis was a member of the New Democrat Coalition and she portrayed herself as someone who was willing to work across party lines. She served on the House Armed Services Committee. She also served on the Education and Workforce Committee, where she was the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.
In 2012, Davis filed a lawsuit to recover over $150,000 in campaign funds from her former campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee. Durkee was later sentenced to eight years in prison for fraud after pleading guilty to stealing seven million dollars from more than fifty people.
On September 4, 2019, Davis announced that she would not seek re-election in 2020.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Legacy

Davis was inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame in 2020. On November 29, 2022, the House passed a bill to name a post office in Rolando, San Diego after Davis. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on December 27, 2022. On July 7, 2023, a ceremony was held to rename the former Andrew Jackson Post Office in Rolando after Davis.