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File photo of Congresswoman Davis during a 2006 debate. |
Area Republicans Saturday remembered Rep. Jo Ann Davis as a dedicated congresswoman who put her constituents first.
“She didn’t go to Washington to meet friends,” said Robert Stuber, chairman of Spotsylvania County’s Republican Party. “She went to represent the people.”
Davis, 57, died Saturday morning at her Gloucester County home after a battle with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2005 and had a recurrence earlier this year.
"Her determination to fight the disease is an inspiration to all of us," President Bush said in a statement.
"Over the course of her four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, she was an effective advocate for the people of her district and a strong supporter of our men and women in uniform," Bush said. "She was a fine example of a public servant who worked hard to cut government waste to ensure the people's money was used wisely. Her common sense values will be missed on Capitol Hill."
She had been undergoing treatment, and recent tests had positive results, according to a press release from her staff.
But in the last week she took a turn for the worse.
Davis was known as a strong supporter of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and as a supporter of military facilities in her 1st Congressional District, said her spokesman Chris Connelly.
He mentioned the Naval Support Facility at Dahlgren and the Quantico Marine Corps Base specifically.
The 1st District includes Fredericksburg; all or part of Spotsylvania, Stafford, Fauquier, King George and Caroline counties; the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula.
Davis was Virginia’s first female Republican in Congress and had served for seven years.
Before she entered politics, she was in real estate. She started Davis Management Co. in 1988 and Jo Ann Davis Realty in 1990.
In 1997, she entered the General Assembly, representing York County in the House of Delegates.
She won her first term in Congress in 2000, after Republican Rep. Herb Bateman retired for health reasons. Bateman died soon after retiring.
In the House of Representatives, Davis was on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees. Much of the work she did revolved around the military and federal employees.
“She always said her bosses were the folks who elected her,” said Connelly, her spokesman.
She was proud of legislation that increased service members’ life insurance and a measure that changed calculation of federal employees’ retirement.
She also was committed to specific local issues, recalled former Fredericksburg City Council member Joe Wilson. He said she helped win the $2.5 million in federal funds to fix tracks at the city’s train station.
“She was a tough negotiator,” Wilson said. “She was very effective, and we’ll miss her and the way she fought for this area.”
After being diagnosed in 2005, Davis urged breast cancer awareness.
“I encourage [all women] to get checkups and take care of themselves,” she said in a September 2005 interview with The Free Lance–Star.
Stuber said Davis succeeded despite humble roots, which made him and others appreciate her work all the more.
“She always told me about how she grew up living in a trailer park. She went to college and didn’t graduate. But she didn’t let those things bother her,” he said.
“She was just Jo Ann. And that’s what she would tell you to call her, too. Not ‘Congresswoman.’ She would say, ‘Call me Jo Ann.’ ”
Survivors include her husband, Chuck Davis, two grown sons, Charley and Chris, and a granddaughter, Charlotte.
An open funeral will be held next Thursday at Lighthouse Worship Center in Gloucester at a time to be determined.
Ellen Biltz: 540/374-5424
ebiltz@freelancestar.com
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Davis spokesman Chris Connelly said the congresswoman had never mentioned support for a particular successor.
“There are a lot of qualified folks out there,” he said. “We haven’t taken a position on one, and we won’t take a position.”