Warren Davidson

Warren Earl Davidson (born March 1, 1970) is an American politician and former military officer serving as U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District since 2016. Prior to political office he was an officer in United States Army Special Operations and led his family’s manufacturing business. Representative Davidson is a member of the Republican Party.

Warren Davidson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 8th district
Assumed office
June 7, 2016
Preceded byJohn Boehner
Personal details
Born
Warren Earl Davidson

(1970-03-01) March 1, 1970
Troy, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Lisa Davidson
Children2
EducationUnited States Military Academy (BS)
University of Notre Dame (MBA)
CommitteesHouse Financial Services Committee
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
Years of service1988-2000
Rank Captain

Personal life

Davidson was born and raised in Sidney, Ohio, graduating from Sidney High School in 1988.[1]

He and his wife Lisa married in 1995, they have two children.[1]

Military career

Davidson enlisted in the Army after graduating high school in 1988. After training, he was stationed in Germany with the 3rd Infantry Division, during which time he witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. Soon after he received an opportunity to attend the United States Military Academy, graduating in the top ten percent of his class in 1995. He left with an officers' commission and a degree in American history and mechanical engineering. After West Point, he went to Army Ranger School in 1996, subsequently spending time leading the elite 101st Airborne Division, 75th Ranger Regiment, and The Old Guard.

He retired from the Army in 2000 and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Notre Dame.[1]

After his graduate school he took over his family's business in the Ohio manufacturing industry, which he ran until entering public service.[1] He recently returned to serve in a new capacity at his alma mater when he was appointed to the 2020 United States Military Academy Board of Visitors.[2]

United States House of Representatives

Elections

2016
See also: 2016 Ohio's 8th congressional district special election

Following the resignation of John Boehner from the U.S. House of Representatives, Davidson ran in a special election to succeed him. Davidson is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, helped push his predecessor to resign his seat. Davidson won the special election on June 7, 2016,[3][4] and was sworn in on June 9, 2016.[5][6]

2018
See also: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio

Davidson defeated Democrat Vanessa Enoch 66.6 to 33.4% in the 2018 elections.[7]

2020
See also: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio

Davidson is running for reelection in 2020 again challenged by Democrat Vanessa Enoch.[8][9]

Tenure
Warren Davidson speaking with attendees at the 2019 Teen Student Action Summit hosted by Turning Point USA.

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Political Positions

Abortion

Davidson is staunchly anti-abortion except to save the life of the mother. On August 12th 2020, Davidson and Rep. Mike Braun co-wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin urging him to direct the IRS not to treat premiums for health insurance which covers abortions as medical care, stating "in all but the most extreme circumstances, abortion is an elective procedure."

Cryptocurrencies

Representative Davidson is one of the most prominent members of Congress on the issue of cryptocurrencies, discussing various coins — in particular, Bitcoin — on the floor of the House, and has been described as a "vocal advocate of the industry outside the House."[12]

In July of 2019, Davidson referred to Facebook's proposed digital currency LibraCoin as a "shitcoin" during a congressional hearing, in a question to blockchain finance executive Meltem Demirrors.[13] The derisive term is a popular meme[14] in cryptocurrency circles and elicited attention online for its unprecedented use in Congress, and for the Monster Energy Zero Ultra Davidson appeared to be inconspicuously drinking at the time, itself often the subject of a meme called the Thirty Year Old Boomer[15]

Foreign policy and the military

Rep. Davidson has objected to America's oversees military presence, and the continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on numerous occasions.[16]

He favors ending the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq which he describes as "horribly outdated, inadequate for today’s War on Terror, and stretched to the point of absurdity.. ..used to support ongoing missions.. ..against enemies, organizations, and nations with little or no connection to 9/11."[17]

He voted against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 citing among other things "funding for military activity in Afghanistan with no change in strategy or plan to withdraw troops."[18]

Healthcare

Davidson supports Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. He has introduced his own legislation called The Patient Fairness Act aimed at expanding coverage via Health Savings Accounts (HSA's). It would expand availability of these tax-advantaged investible financial vehicles to a much larger swath of the population than the current propensity for only high deductible insurance plans to offer such a program. Davidson said he wanted to more than double the maximum investable allowance for the accounts, claiming it will build price transparency for insured patients, develop parity with employer sponsored healthcare, and by making them inheritable assets offer a vehicle to build inter-generational wealth.[19]

Intelligence and surveillance activities

Davidson supports curtailing many of the broad signals intelligence permissions granted in the wake of the September 11th attacks which he has described as a "extralegal spying regime" of "vague laws and lax protections"[20][18] He has worked to orchestrate several major attempts to reform the laws in recent years.

The first major attempt at reform came in Davidson's original cosponsorship of H.R. 5675, The Safeguarding Americans' Private Records Act (SAPRA) in January 2020 alongside the notably unusual coalition of Progressive Caucus Democrats like Pramila Jayapal and Freedom Caucus Republicans like Matt Gaetz. The bill aimed at significant reforms including new transparency of FISA Court decisions and ensuring 4th amendment constraints on "tangible things" requests subsequent to the decision in Carpenter v. United States.[21] Efforts stalled however after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) cancelled markup on the bill at the request of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA).

Another came during debate over reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), when Davidson worked with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), to introduce the Lofgren-Davidson Amendment which was to serve as an outright prohibition on warrentless search of American's internet activities by the Intelligence Community via Section 215 of the USA FREEDOM Act (aka the Library Records provision).[22] Reauthorization of the soon-to-expire Section 215 concerned a set of provisions known informally as the “business records” power, the “call detail records” authority, the “roving wiretaps” provision, and the never used “lone wolf” amendment. The new language among other reforms would have constrained these powers by creating an affirmative burden on the government to be absolutely sure the target in question is not a U.S. person prior to obtaining internet records, and make unlawful the incidental collection of U.S. persons data via selection of all web traffic data for a particular video, search query, or webpage.[23] In addition, if an order could result in a U.S. persons' data, it would have been unlawful without a warrant narrowly tailored to a specific subject.[23] It also eliminated the lone wolf amendment.[23] The proposal mirrored a companion Senate amendment by Senators Ron Wyden (D-WA) and Steve Daines (R-MT), which had narrowly failed in that body. Davidson said he would support reauthorization of FISA so long as the amendment was included.[22] [23]

After Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff (D-CA) made a statement to the New York Times suggesting that the Lofgren-Davidson amendment would not completely eliminate warrentless surveillance, Davidson and original Senate sponsor Ron Wyden quickly abandoned support of the amendment over fears that the agreement reached between Lofgren and Chairman Schiff over the weekend had betrayed much of the intent of the amendment with omissions and loopholes to be interpreted maliciously by the secretive FISA Court.[24] [25] Davidson went on to oppose the amendment and underlying reauthorization bill saying "this is Rep. Schiff and intelligence hawks working overtime to protect the surveillance state status quo."[24] The entire bill was later pulled by Speaker Pelosi after the president indicated he would veto and moderate republicans indicated opposition. Barring further action Section 215 powers lie dormant as authority expired March 15th, 2020.[26]

After Attorney General William Barr tried to suggest that FISA could be reauthorized with assurances the Justice Department would fix abuses through administrative rulemaking, Davidson pushed back against suggestions that any agency decisions could stand in for crucial legislative reform.[20]

Rep. Davidson cited compromises of "Americans’ privacy in the name of fighting terror" as a reason for his vote against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021.[18]

Electoral history
Ohio's 8th Congressional District special election, 2016[27]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Warren Davidson 21,618 76.76
Democratic Corey Foister 5,937 21.08
Green James J. Condit, Jr. 607 2.16
Total votes 28,236 100.00
Republican hold
Ohio's 8th Congressional District election, 2016
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Warren Davidson (Incumbent) 223,833 68.76
Democratic Steven Fought 87,794 26.97
Green Derrick James Hendricks 13,879 4.26
Total votes 325,506 100.00
Republican hold

References
  1. "Republican Warren Davidson hopes to lead U.S. House 8th District race". dailyadvocate.com. February 1, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  2. "Board of Visitors | United States Military Academy West Point". www.westpoint.edu. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  3. "Boehner race winner: 'This is like going back to active duty'". Cincinnati.com. June 7, 2016.
  4. Sewell, Dan; Press, Associated (June 8, 2016). "Warren Davidson wins special House election in Ohio". wdtn.com. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  5. "Davidson will be sworn in today". Journal-News. June 9, 2016.
  6. "Warren Davidson sworn in to fill remainder of John Boehner's term". daytondailynews.com. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  7. "Ohio's 8th Congressional District election, 2018". Ballotpedia. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  8. Pitman, Michael D. "Incumbent congressman to face familiar opponent in GOP primary". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  9. Stewart, Chris. "Warren Davidson, Vanessa Enoch cruise to congressional primary wins". Butler County Journal-News. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  10. "Committees and Caucuses". Congressman Warren Davidson. December 13, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  11. Cortez, J.P. (August 14, 2020). "New Sound Money Caucus Launched on Capitol Hill". Money Metals Exchange. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  12. Lujan Odera (October 16, 2019). "Congressman Warren Davidson Says Facebook Should Use Bitcoin Over Libra's Stablecoin". bitcoinexchangeguide.com. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  13. Morse, Jack. "Congressman implies Facebook's Libra is a 'shitcoin'". Mashable. Retrieved October 18, 2019.
  14. "The Top 50 Crypto Memes of All Time | Featured Bitcoin News". Bitcoin News. January 7, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  15. "30-Year-Old Boomer". Know Your Meme. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  16. "Davidson: "Bring Our Troops Home."". Congressman Warren Davidson. March 3, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  17. Davidson, Warren (January 13, 2020). "A time for war, a time for peace — and always a time to defend America". The Hill. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  18. "Davidson Rejects Partisan National Defense Authorization". Congressman Warren Davidson. July 21, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  19. Davidson, Warren (January 15, 2020). "My plan to expand HSAs and healthcare price transparency". Washington Examiner. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  20. Davidson, Warren. "Congress Has a Chance to Reform the Patriot Act—But Moderates Want to Water It Down". The American Conservative. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  21. Crocker, India McKinney and Andrew (January 29, 2020). "New Bill Would Make Needed Steps Toward Curbing Mass Surveillance". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  22. "Lofgren and Davidson Urge Consideration of Internet Privacy Amendment". Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren. May 20, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  23. "Davidson Praises Inclusion of Internet Privacy Amendments in FISA Reauthorization". Congressman Warren Davidson. May 26, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  24. Cameron, Dell (May 26, 2020). "Wyden Pulls Support for Privacy Amendment After Rep. Adam Schiff Downplays Impact to NYTimes". Gizmodo. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  25. Savage, Charlie (May 26, 2020). "House to Vote on Limiting F.B.I. Power to Collect Americans' Internet Data". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  26. Herb, Jeremy. "Democrats pull bill to reauthorize government surveillance powers after Trump threatens to veto it". CNN. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  27. "June 7, 2016 Special Congressional General Election Official Canvass". Ohio Secretary of State. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
John Boehner		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Ohio's 8th congressional district
2016–present		 Incumbent
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
Darin LaHood		 United States Representatives by seniority
281st		 Succeeded by
James Comer
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