Davis: Despite maps, Pitt County still essential to 1st House District
The congressman representing North Carolina’s 1st District said Greenville and Pitt County will remain essential to constituents as a health care and job hub even after new lines place it entirely in the 3rd District next year.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a Greene County Democrat, on Wednesday shared priorities and answered questions during a news conference at his Greenville headquarters, which he opened on Arlington Boulevard in May 2023. He said that despite Greenville’s importance to 1st District residents in the region, another community will have to host the headquarters in the future.
“I don’t know that they will allow me to keep the building, per se,” said Davis, who faces Edenton Republican and ex-Army Col. Laurie Buckhout in what is expected to be a competitive race in November. “There is a process, but with the shift in the district boundaries, we’ll have to likely get and look at relocating the district office. I wish I could keep it.”
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On Wednesday Davis called Pitt County the “heart” of the former 1st Congressional District and cited the importance of institutions like East Carolina University and ECU Health Medical Center to his constituents, who commute from the surrounding area for their care or to work.
“We saw a very compact district and what happens is, you go into the heart of that district and remove Pitt County,” Davis said. “Pitt County is really that gem of the east, that support system, that network when it comes to health care and delivering for multiple counties. When we talk about the university, that’s by all means a regional university with a wide reach. So many drive into Pitt County for work and then drive back into other rural communities.”
Davis previously represented Pitt County at the state level in both the N.C. House and Senate. He also taught at ECU as an assistant professor for years. He credited the university for bringing him home to North Carolina after time spent in the U.S. Air Force.
“For me, this is a relationship regardless of the redistricting, whatever the lines. That I know,” Davis said. “I’ve been working and dealing with Pitt County for a long time and I think regardless of any boundaries, that is so important to have someone who understands the people, the players, how all this works.”
The freshman congressman’s new district lines have taken in Lenoir and Wayne counties, where he said priorities include the Global TransPark in Kinston and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. Davis recently demanded answers from the Air Force on behalf of the latter after an announcement that the service planned to divest a full squadron of F-15e fighter jets at the base, a decision that could cost 520 jobs.
Davis contrasted that possibility and the potential loss of 6,000 jobs from a proposed FDA ban on menthol cigarettes with his time in the state legislature, where he was a vocal proponent for Medicaid Expansion that went into effect in December.
“Over 6,500 jobs and I spent over a decade trying to get 3,000 (through Medicaid expansion),” Davis said. “If you ever talk about that expression, take two steps forward to take three backwards, that’s what we’re talking about here.”
Among Davis’ highest priorities now is reauthorizing the Farm Bill, a wide-ranging legislation that encompasses topics like rural development, crop insurance, research marketing and various others that impact agriculturists. On Nov. 16, President Joe Biden extended the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, or Farm Bill, in order to allow authorized programs under the bill to continue through Sept. 30, 2024. The bill is reauthorized every five years.
Davis serves as the vice-ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee and said he and other Democrats recently received an offer and are in the process of putting together a counterproposal. He said that according to the timeline set by House Ag Chairman Glenn Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, the skeleton of a bill should be available for revision around Memorial Day.