Jeannemarie Devolites Davis
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Jeannemarie Aragona Devolites Davis (born February 28, 1956) is an American politician. She served in the
Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
1998–2004 and the
Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Vir ...
2004–2008. She was a candidate for the 2013 Republican nomination for
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia The lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general. The office is currently held ...
, but was eliminated in the first round of voting at the 2013 Republican convention in
Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
. Her husband, Tom Davis, was a member of the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
. Virginia Governor
Bob McDonnell Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, academic administrator, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Republica ...
appointed Davis director of the Virginia Liaison Office in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
in January 2010. She resigned in September 2012 to pursue an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor.


Early life and education

Davis was born on a
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
base in Swindon, England, where her father was a civilian employee. The family eventually settled in
Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...
, where she graduated from Yorktown High School in 1974. In 1978, she received a B.A. degree in
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
from the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...
. Davis has married twice. She had four children with her first husband, John Devolites. She married Tom Davis in 2004; it was his second marriage, also.


Career


State House of Delegates

After losing two races for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to
Gerry Connolly Gerald Edward Connolly (March 30, 1950 – May 21, 2025) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district from 2009 until his death in 2025. A Democrat, he was first elected in 2008 ...
, Devolites ran for the Virginia House of Delegates. In 1997, with Tom Davis as her mentor and chief donor she won her race for member of the House of Delegates. She was elected to become the House Majority Whip, the first woman to serve in this position, before being elected to the State Senate.


State Senate

Davis served one term in the State Senate, losing her run for reelection in 2007. Her district was the most Democratic district held by a Republican in Virginia. Her Democratic successor is Democrat and former Delegate Chap Petersen, whose previous House district is enclaved in the 37th Senatorial District. Her top donor was her husband's
Political Action Committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...
(PAC), the Federal Victory Fund, donating almost $25,000. Tom Davis's other PAC, the Va Victory Fund, had also donated over $92,000 in her House races. Mrs. Davis also received another $55,616 from the
National Republican Congressional Committee The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is the United States Republican Party, Republican Hill committee which works to elect Republicans to the United States House of Representatives. The NRCC was formed in 1866, when the Repub ...
when her husband was the Committee Chair. This RNCC donation was the most donated to any VA candidate not running statewide.


Voting record

On evaluations from Project Vote Smart, on a scale of 100 from 2004 to 2006, Davis scored 67-100 percent from the Virginia Education Association, 50-71 percent from the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, and 78-84 percent from the Chamber of Commerce. She scored near zero from the Virginia National Organization for Women and all reporting abortion rights groups, 80% from the Chamber of Commerce, and a 94% from the conservative Family Foundation of Virginia.


2007 endorsements

One newspaper and ten unions or business groups endorsed her 2007 election campaign: * ''The Washington Post'' * Fairfax Education Association * Virginia Education Association * Fairfax Local Firefighters * Virginia Professional Firefighters * Virginia chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association * Northern Virginia Technology Council * Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce * National Federation of Independent Business * Virginia Association of Realtors * Virginia Troopers Alliance


Electoral history


Campaign finance references

* VPAP:donors to Jeanemarie Devolities Davis * VPAP:VA Donors to Tom Davis Virginia Victory Fund * VPAP:Tom Davis Leadership Committees A large percentage of her financial support is contributed from her husband, Tom Davis, and the Republican organizations he directs. Before Virginia's 2007 election cycle, his PACS had donated more than $172,000 to her campaign. In addition, she has received contributions from National Republican organizations directed by Mr. Davis including $300,000 to the Fairfax and Prince William's counties Republican Party committees who in turn donated money and office space to Mrs. Davis; $55,616 from the National Republican Congressional Committee when her husband was Chair, $5,000 from the Republican Main Street Partnership, and $5,000 from
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, DeLay represented Texas's 22nd congress ...
's ARMPAC. Technology and telecommunications companies have been the largest contributors to Davis's and his wife's separate campaigns and political action committees; they donated more than $1.1 million of the $6.4 million given to the couple's campaigns.


Affiliations

Former Senator Davis worked as a technology consultant for ICG government , a position that raised potential conflicts of interest. Previously, she worked as a statistical consultant to the law firm of
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (known as Akin Gump or Akin) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is the second-largest lobbying firm in the United States by revenue. History The firm was founded in Dal ...
. Davis belonged to a number of organizations : she was on the Board of Directors of Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts, Homeaid, and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA); Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Virginia International University; Member and Past President, Tysons Corner Rotary. She was a member of Tysons Vienna Regional Chamber of Commerce, Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, Oakton Women's Club, New Providence Republican Women's Club,
American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservatism in the United States, conservative state legislature (United States), state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share Model act, ...
(ALEC) and National Conference of State Legislatures, Board member of Lattice Incorporated.


Controversies


ICG Government

She was one of the first hires (as a part-time consultant) for ICG, a firm that assists businesses in obtaining and defending performance under government contracts. At the time of her hire, Congressman Davis was her mentor and campaign manager. ICG Founder and President Don Upson is a longtime friend of Davis. After Devolites was hired by ICG, Davis, then divorced, married Devolites. The financial benefits between Rep. Davis and his wife, from the ICG job as well as other campaign donations to Mrs. Davis, were highlighted in a June 2007 ethics report "Family Affair" by the
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is a progressive nonprofit 501(c)(3) watchdog organization devoted to U.S. government ethics and accountability.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 ...
. The report identified ethical questions on financial ties that benefit family members of 64 of the 435 voting members of Congress. As of December 24, 2008, Davis continues to work for ICG. She reported to ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' that she was paid $78,000 in 2005 for working "10 to 20 hours a week," primarily at home on her cellphone, she said. She made $18,000 a year as a Virginia legislator. Her ICG bio, which continues to describe her as a "Current Virginia State Senator for largest IT district", bio, also is the only one on the ICG website to name a spouse.


Disclosures

During the week of October 22, 2007, the Davis campaign sent out 60,000 campaign flyers accusing Petersen of not disclosing that his former law firm was working on issues that Petersen voted on while in the House of Delegates. The flyer did not mention that Petersen had not been involved in the legal issues for the client. The flyer included a copy of a section of Petersen's Statement of Economic Interest, which he filed while serving in the House. It includes Petersen's home address, telephone number, and the names of his wife and four children. This information was not redacted by the Davis campaign. Petersen held a press conference on October 26 in front of Davis' headquarters in Fairfax. He said that "words cannot describe the anger I feel" about the flyer, and called it "shocking" that Davis would use his personal information in such a manner. Petersen said that advertising his personal information was not in and of itself a problem, but using his personal phone number and children's identification was not appropriate or safe in an attack ad. Such tactics, Petersen said, endangered his family. Mrs. Petersen complained of receiving two telephone calls related to the attack ad, and police presence appeared at the home, before the family vacated the house. In response, Davis said in her own press conference that because the information was public and included to supporters, it was appropriate for an attack ad. Because of the controversy, the Virginia Coalition of Police and Deputy Sheriffs withdrew its initial endorsement of Davis. Devolites Davis also claimed that Petersen's campaign uploaded a video to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
which brought up her daughter's armed robbery conviction of several years ago. However, according to Washington
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
affiliate WUSA, there is no evidence anyone from the Petersen camp uploaded the video.


Notes


External links

* archived campaign website
Senate of Virginia - Senator Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis
official government site * YouTube videos ** ** *General Assembly Legislation
2007 chief patronco-patron

2006 chief patronco-patron

2005 chief patronco-patron

2004 chief patronco-patron)

2003 chief patronco-patron

2002 chief patronco-patronProject Vote Smart - Senator Jeannemarie A. Devolites Davis (VA)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Jeannemarie Devolites Davis
2005200320011999
campaign contributions
''The Washington Post'' - 2007 Senate District 34 Race
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devolites-Davis, Jeannemarie 1956 births Living people 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly 21st-century American women politicians Politicians from Arlington County, Virginia Politicians from Fairfax County, Virginia People from Swindon Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Republican Party Virginia state senators Spouses of Virginia politicians University of Virginia alumni Women state legislators in Virginia Yorktown High School (Virginia) alumni 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly