Essay: Danny K. Davis profile, background, district, assignments

1. Write a paragraph describing the personal, professional, and educational background of the representative before he or she entered Congress. Focus on the non-political aspects of the member’s life. In what ways is the representative you are studying typical of other members of the U.S. House? In what ways is he or she atypical? (The word atypical means not typical.) Base your judgment on the description of the typical member of Congress found in Gateways to Democracy, pp. 390-391 and the online profile of the membership of Congress found at the following Internet site: https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R44762.html (10 pts.)
Danny K. Davis was born on September 6, 1941 in Parkdale, Arkansas. He studied at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and earned his bachelor’s degree in history in 1961. He them studied at Chicago State University where we earned his master’s in guidance in 1968. In 1977 he also earned his doctorate in public administration in the Union Institute & University in Cincinnati. He married his wife, Vera G. Davis, in 1974. They have a daughter named Stacey, and had a son named Jonathan who died in March 30, 2017. Davis is a member of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha. He is also a Deacon and a member of the New Galilee M.B Church. Davis had different careers before entering congress. Not only was he a high school teacher, he also had careers as a health planner/ administrator, a community organizer and a civil rights advocate. He has traveled to many places and earned hundreds of awards for his amazing work in different areas.  Danny K. Davis is typical of other members of the U.S House. Like majority of the members of congress, he has a college education and has a profession in public administration like many members. Davis is a part of a Baptist church which is one of the denominations which is represented the most. Many of the members are affiliated with a certain religion. Davis is also atypical in some areas. Although the average age for representatives in 57.8 years, he is 76 years old. He is one out of the 51 African American members in Congress.
2. Write a paragraph describing the representative’s political background. Identify the elected and appointed positions in government the person you are studying has held before being elected to Congress. Identify the year the representative first won election to the U.S. House.  Is he or she a career politician? What is the basis of your judgment? A career politician is someone who wishes to earn his or her living in the political arena for an extended period of time.  (10 pts.)
Danny K. Davis has quite a political background. As a member of the Chicago City Council as Alderman of the 29th Ward, he served for eleven years. He was in office from 1979 until 1990. In November of 1990 he served on the Cook Country Board of Commission as a member from Chicago’s at large district. He was then reelected in November 1994 until 1997 as a member of the Cook Country board of commissioners from the 1st district. On November 5, 1996 he was elected by those of the 7th congressional District of Illinois as their representative in Congress. He has been reelected ever since. Now in the 115th Congress he serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. Not only is her a member of the Subcommittee on Oversights and Trade, but he is also a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Human Resources. He is also a member of different Congressional Caucuses which include the Congressional Sugar Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, The community Health Center’s Caucus, The Progressive Caucus, and the Urban Caucus. I believe Danny K. Davis is a career politician. He served for the very first time at the age of 38 and is now 76 years old and continues to serve. He has won many awards which prove that he has been very successful as a politician. Even before becoming a politician he still helped the community and was able to build up his popularity. Because he has been serving for nearly half of his life, I believe he is a career politician who is trying to earn his living in the political arena.
3. Write a paragraph describing the district the member represents.  Where is it located in the state?  Does it include any towns? Is it part of a major city?  Is it inner-city urban, suburban, small town, or rural?  What issue or issues would you expect to be particularly important to the residents and interest groups found in the member’s district because of the nature of the district?  Identify at least one issue and explain why it is particularly important in this congressional district, whereas it might not be as important in other districts.  (10 pts.)
The 7th District of Illinois is within the Cook county, it extends to the western border of Cook County and it is also bordered on the east side by Lake Michigan. Not only does one of his arms extend all the way south until 57th street, but it is also south of Armitage Avenue. This district includes many parts of the West Side of Chicago. It includes all of the communities of Oak Park, River Forest, and Bellwood. It includes some parts of Berkeley, Forest Park, Hillside Broadview, Maywood, and Westchester. The 7th District in Chicago includes part and all of the communities of Chinatown, East Garfield Park, Fuller Square, Humboldt Park, Near North Side, Near West Side, Oakland, Washington Park, West Garfield Park and many other communities. This district is part of Chicago which is a major city. It is parts of many suburban communities. One issue that the 7th District encounters is medically underserved communities. Not only do they have these areas, but they are the most underserved in America. Because of this, Chicago’s Westside communities are experiencing very high infant mortality rates that compare to third world countries. Although there are different areas where there is medical need, this is an important issue in this district because not only is this district one of the poorest in America it is also known as an underserved community which we know have consequences such as high infant mortality rates.
4. Write a paragraph discussing the representative’s committee assignments.  On which standing congressional committees does the member serve?  [Look up the term “standing committee.”]  Is the representative the chair or ranking minority member of a committee?  [Look up “ranking minority member.”] What sorts of policy issues does each of the standing committees address?  Is the representative a member of any subcommittees?  Does he/she chair any subcommittees or serve as the ranking member?  [Please note: Do NOT give me information about the member’s participation in congressional caucuses.]  (10 pts.)
Danny K. Davis serves as a member on the Committee on Ways and Means, on the Oversight and Trade Subcommittees, and as a ranking member of the Subcommittee that focuses on Human Resources. The Ways and Means committee is not only the oldest committee of the U.S Congress, but it is the chief tax-writing committee of the U.S house of representatives. This committee is in charge of all the taxations, revenue-raising, and tariffs.
5. How much money did the representative raise for the 2016 election?  How much did his or her main opponent raise?  (If the database indicates that a challenger raised no money, it means just that—the challenger raised no money.)  The Center for Responsive Politics presents data on this issue at the following Internet address: www.opensecrets.org.  What were the most important sources of the representative’s campaign funds?  Identify two or three important sources of funding.  Did the candidate self-fund to any significant degree?  (Click on the representative’s name at the website and it opens up to provide detailed data.)  The textbook discusses congressional elections on pp. 337-344. (10 pts.)
Danny K. Davis raised $552,637 for the 2016 election. Jeffrey A. Leef was Davis’ main opponent. After searching and not finding anything in either the website or other website, I came to the conclusion that he didn’t raise any money for the election. The most important sources of the Davis’ campaign funds were contributions from PAC adding to 89.57%, large individual contributions with 7.20% of the total and small individual contributions with 3.22%. Davis did not self-fund to any significant degree in the 2016 election.
6. What percentage of the vote did the representative receive in the 2016 election? Based on the results of the 2016 election and the data on fundraising, does it appear that this representative is firmly entrenched in Congress?  (Entrenched means unlikely to be defeated for reelection anytime soon.)  Why or why not?  Is this typical for members of Congress in general?  (10 pts.)
Danny K. Davis received 84.2% of the vote in the 2016 election. Based on the results of the election and the data on fundraising it does appear that Davis is firmly entrenched in Congress. Not only is this shown because of the high percentage of votes but he was elected as a representative in 1996 and has been re-elected by large majorities. This shows that because he has been serving for a long time and keeps winning with many votes, it is unlikely for him to be defeated for reelection. It is typical for members of congress in general to be entrenched in Congress. I think that if the people of the district see that there is change being done and that the representative is doing a well job and listening to their needs, then they are able to continue voting for the same representative over and over again.
7. The Project Vote Smart website includes links to several interest groups that rate members of Congress based on their voting records.  The group identifies a set of votes that it considers important and gives the member a score depending on whether the member supports the policy positions favored by the group.  [A high score means that the member voted the way the interest group likes most of the time.]  Select one of the groups (using the pull-down menu) and research its evaluation of the member of Congress you are studying.  What group did you select?  (Choose a specific group rather than a category of groups.)  With what sorts of issues is the group concerned?  Be specific.  How does the group feel about the member of Congress you are studying?  Would you expect the group to consider him or her an ally, an enemy, or something in between?  Discuss.  (10 pts.)
I selected the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda group under the immigration category. This group is concerned with positions on immigration reform. These group focuses on advocating for the civil rights and issues with policies that impact Latinos living in the U.S. Their goal is to help Latinos have a stronger influence in the affairs of the country. I think the groups likes Danny K. Davis because his rating was 100%. I believe this groups considers Davis an ally because he is constantly voting in favor of immigration groups that focus on Hispanics. That being said I believe that if they know that he is trying to help the Hispanic community to the point where he favors many of the groups, these groups should see him as someone who can help them.
8. The Project Vote Smart website includes a link to speeches and public statements of each representative.  Review some of the recent speeches and public statements of the representative you are studying.  Identify an issue on which the representative has recently focused.  What is the issue?  Why does the representative think it is important?  What position has the representative taken? Do not just copy the statement of the representative.  (10 pts.)
One issue which the Danny K. Davis has recently focused on is the inequities between racial group and how it affects students of color who are seeking a higher education. The representative thinks it is an important issue because the decisions made by the Secretary of Education has exacerbated the inequities that were already seen. It is also mentioned that black students and up with more debt than others. The representative wants DeVos to understand the challenges that students of color are facing and to collect the data needed. He also wants for the Borrower Defense and Gainful Employment rules to be enforced just as they were agreed upon in 2014 and 2016. He wants to protect the students of color who are borrowing loans to get a higher education.
9. To which political party does the member of Congress belong?  Based on his or her voting record, interest group evaluations, fundraising sources, and issue positions, would you say that he or she is typical or atypical of members of his or her party?  Explain the reasoning behind your answer. Be specific.  (10 pts.)  
Danny K. Davis belongs to the Democrats. Based on Davis’ voting record, interest group evaluations, fundraising sources, and issue positions, I would that that he is typical of members on the democratic party. Davis voted in favor of many laws that would help immigrants in one way or another and also seems that he wasn’t afraid to vote against those laws that were going to just deport immigrants as the solutions. The groups that seem to like Davis are also those groups who are protected under the beliefs of the democrats. Because most of the money was contributed from PAC we can also come to the conclusion that this organization was well represented by others who were trying to help Davis win the election. That being said, it means that there were many who were interested in helping him raise money. I think that if he were to have different beliefs that those of a democrat, then he wouldn’t have been reelected as much as he has been. Based on what he did before becoming a representative and serving in Congress, we can also see that his ideologies line up with those of a Democrat.
10. Do you admire the representative? Why or why not? Be specific.  (10 pts.)
I admire Danny K. Davis because of his commitment not only as a representative but also because he is able to listen to his people, and then do something about it. Davis was first elected as a representative in 1996 and ever since then he has managed to be reelected after every term with majority of the votes. This amazes me! Even in his early life before being a part of Congress he was always working towards helping others which show that it is a passion of his. We can easily tell that he has spent most of his life working towards becoming a representative and help those who don’t have a voice be heard. This is what shows how committed he is. Although many members are reelected, majority can’t say that they have been serving for 21 years. Another thing that really blew my mind was the number of letters that he and his colleagues wrote to others and the small amount of days in between those letters. He wrote to the Secretary of Education, to the President, and to the Chairman of Homeland Security and many more. As I was looking at the list I was able to see that there were multiple letters being sent to different people in charge. When seeing this, anyone is able to see that he is working hard to communicate with whoever he needs to in order to help his people. Not only does he serve a district where the poorest people in America live with little medical help, but he is making sure that they are getting other rights along with other Americans. He is very dedicated in what he does and at 76 years old, he still hasn’t quit which really inspires me to try my hardest to become an educator that even at 76 years old is still making a change and helping students achieve their goals and dreams.