REPRESENTATIVE DANNY DAVIS (D-7th) won Tuesday’s March 19 presidential primary election hands down, vowing to unify a divided 7th Congressional District. In a divisive campaign, two female opponents tried to pit their younger age against 82-year-old Davis. He says it’s time for healing and thanked the senior voters for pulling him across the finish line, while vowing to fight for increased benefits for Medicare and Social Security. (Photo by Marcus Robinson)
Thanks seniors for pulling him across finish line
In a five-way race, Representative Danny Davis (D-7th) handily won his historic 15th re-election, praising the senior voters for their loyal support and vowing to continue his fight for improved Medicare and Social Security for this voting bloc, which he says pulled him across the finish line.
“I’m neither a puppet nor am I for sale,” a feisty 82-year-old Davis told the Chicago Crusader late Tuesday, March 19, after he left his victory party vowing to unify a divided 7th Congressional District due to the harmful bragging of younger female opponents over his being a senior citizen.
With 83 percent of the votes in, Davis received 37,446 votes, 53.1 percent.
Opponents Melissa Conyears-Ervin received 15,283 votes, 21.7 percent; Kina Collins, 12,661 votes, 18.0 percent; Nikhil Bhatia, 3,281 votes, 4.7 percent; and Kouri Marshall, 1,799 votes, 2.6 percent, for a total of 70,470 votes.
“Winning with 53 percent over five candidates is an indication to me that the people of the 7th District agreed a great deal with the positions that I take, with the leadership that I provide, with the resources that we generate.
“It’s a great feeling to live among people who think pretty much the way you think. I am grateful for their expression of that agreement and look forward to serving and representing them for another two years,” Davis told the Crusader.
Asked his feelings about the tenor of the campaign where two younger Black women harped on being young and believed Davis was too old to return to Congress, Davis said, “I knew that this kind of campaign would create some divisiveness in the community.”
Davis said his win in this gender/age difference climate “was one for the senior citizens, for the senior population. They were the cause of it. They came out and voted. You can’t discard, write off or take our senior population for granted and think that they don’t know what decisions are.
“I will always be grateful to them, and I will always work on their behalf,” he said.
“I will do everything in my power to protect Medicare and Social Security. I will do everything I can to improve and increase Medicare and increase Social Security benefits for seniors.
“They have my pledge on that because they elected a representative to represent them and that is exactly what I intend to do,” said Davis, who commented that this talk about ageism has prompted him to work toward unifying people of all ages.
“People who really know me, know I feel that unification is the most potent weapon that a community could have. I’m going to work as assiduously as I can to try and reunify, or bring back the kind of unification that we ought to have,” he said.
“I am going to work hard to represent a unified community and let the political differences be political differences, let bygones be bygones. Let’s come together, unify, and work together for the benefit of the people,” Davis said. “Those are what my intentions are.”
Saying he is neither for sale nor is he anyone’s political puppet, Davis told the Chicago Crusader, “I know this is Women’s History Month, and I’ve always had a great deal of respect for Shirley Chisholm, and part of her motto was ‘Unbought and Unbossed.’ That describes me except for the people.”
Davis was referring to Chisholm’s legacy of being the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and the first Black woman to run for president.
“I’ve always felt that my allegiance was to those individuals who entrusted me with their votes, and my purpose is to represent them,” Davis stated.
Davis campaigned all day Monday, March 18, riding in his media van, visiting health centers to which he had just given $14 million in grants. He was also accompanied by a vertical digital billboard sponsored by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. A truck that digitally displayed Davis’ legislative and endorsement histories was part of the campaign entourage too. Davis campaigned down to the wire, arriving at his election night headquarters just in time for his victory party.
Referring to Davis, who is mentoring Representative Jonathan Jackson (D-1st), former Alderman Dorothy Tillman, who once ran against Davis, said, “You have to be careful because they have pecking orders in Washington. You got to be able to gain seniority, and I think he has been a good Congressman.
“When we put someone in office, we have to make sure that those people have a history and not just because they want to run for that office, and we do know that Danny has a history from the time we created CBUC to the time we put Harold in office,” Tillman recalled. “Some folks seem to think that is something wrong with that.”
Referring to one of Davis’ opponents, City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, Tillman said, “I have nothing against her, but when she ran for treasurer, I supported her. She was a State Representative, and her husband is the alderman,” she said, referring to Alderman Jason Ervin (28th). “So, how can they say nothing has been done” to the 7th Congressional District when they were in the position to do something?”
“This would be a bad time to get rid of someone with seniority,” Tillman warned.
Asked during the campaign about the question of ageism that Davis’ opponents kept bringing up while touting their youth, Tillman noted, “Everybody ages differently. Danny’s mind is sharp. He’s just a couple of years older than me. Jesse [Jackson’s] mind is sharp. He just got Parkinson’s Disease. We age differently.
“There used to be respect for ageing in the Black community; but today our people don’t understand politics and government, they go for it,” she said referring to Davis’ opponents constantly bringing up youth versus ageism.
“That is why we are in trouble because they want to replace good people, folks who know what they are doing” Tillman said.
On Wednesday, March 20, Davis left for Washington, but not before telling the Chicago Crusader, “The work goes on.”
