Representative Mendel Jackson Davis - Contact Information

Mendel Jackson Davis (October 23, 1942 – May 13, 2007) was an attorney and a United States Representative from South Carolina who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1971 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District for five terms during a significant period in American political history, contributing to the legislative process and representing the interests of his coastal constituents.

Davis was born on October 23, 1942, in North Charleston, South Carolina, to Felix Charles Davis and Elizabeth Jackson Davis. He was raised in Garco Village, a mill community in North Charleston, where he attended local schools. He graduated from North Charleston High School in 1960, distinguishing himself through participation in sports and student government. His early exposure to public life and community affairs in North Charleston helped shape his interest in politics and public service.

Just three days after graduating from high school in 1960, Davis went to work in the Washington office of Congressman L. Mendel Rivers, his godfather and namesake, who represented South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. Davis served as an assistant to Rivers throughout the 1960s, gaining extensive experience in legislative work and constituent services. While working full-time for Rivers, he pursued higher education, earning a degree in history from the College of Charleston in 1966. He subsequently attended the University of South Carolina School of Law, from which he graduated, and he became an attorney, combining legal training with his practical experience on Capitol Hill.

The turning point in Davis’s political career came with the death of Congressman Rivers in December 1970, when Rivers died in Birmingham, Alabama, during heart surgery, almost two months after being elected to a sixteenth term. A special election was called to fill the vacancy in the 1st Congressional District, which centered on Charleston and extended along the southern portion of South Carolina’s Atlantic coastline from Jasper County to Georgetown County. Drawing on his close personal and professional ties to Rivers and his familiarity with the district, Davis sought the Democratic nomination and then ran in the special election. In what was regarded as the district’s first truly competitive congressional race in memory, he defeated Republican candidate James B. Edwards, a future governor of South Carolina, by approximately 5,100 votes. He took office in 1971, beginning the first of his five terms in Congress.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Davis participated actively in the democratic process and legislative debates of the 1970s. He was reelected to a full term in 1972, though he was held to 54 percent of the vote, reflecting the increasingly competitive political environment in the South. Nonetheless, he secured reelection three more times without serious difficulty, serving continuously until 1981. In Congress, Davis focused on issues of economic opportunity and social welfare for his district, working to create more comprehensive health care options and to increase the federal minimum wage. He sponsored the legislation that brought the retired aircraft carrier USS Yorktown to Patriot’s Point near Charleston, a project that would become a major historical and tourism asset for the region. His voting record was typical of a Southern Democrat of his era: he initially received a relatively high rating from the American Conservative Union during his first year in office, but that rating declined over time as his positions shifted on various issues. Davis also served on the House Leadership Committee that played a role in the events leading to the resignation of President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal, aligning him with the congressional effort to uphold constitutional accountability in the executive branch.

Davis’s congressional service ended when he declined to seek reelection in 1980, citing a recurring back problem that made continued service difficult. His decision not to run again opened the way for a Republican victory in the 1st District during the national Republican surge associated with Ronald Reagan’s election to the presidency. The seat, long a Democratic stronghold, shifted to Republican control in 1980 and remained in Republican hands until Democrat Joe Cunningham won it in 2018, underscoring the lasting political realignment that followed Davis’s departure from Congress.

After leaving Congress in 1981, Davis returned to Charleston, where he resumed the practice of law and engaged in political and civic affairs. He worked as a consultant, hosted a radio talk show, and remained active in Democratic Party politics, serving as chairman of the Charleston County Democratic Party. In 1985, he attempted a political comeback by seeking to regain his former congressional seat, but he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Jimmy Stuckey. Davis continued to be recognized locally for his contributions, particularly his role in bringing the Yorktown to Patriot’s Point; in his honor, a traffic circle near the aircraft carrier was named for him, commemorating his efforts to enhance the region’s historical and economic assets.

In his later years, Davis’s health declined, and he was disabled for several years by emphysema. He died on May 13, 2007, in South Carolina. His career reflected the trajectory of a Southern Democrat who rose from a mill village in North Charleston to the halls of Congress, serving five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and leaving a lasting imprint on the Charleston area through his legislative work and local leadership.