Teddy Davis (American politician)

Teddy Davis (born July 21, 1978) is an educator, attorney, and Emmy Award winning journalist who covered national politics for ABC News. He is a fellow at the University of Southern California's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. On September 3, 2013, Davis became the first candidate to enter the race to succeed Los Angeles Council Member Tom LaBonge in the city's 4th district. The Primary election is held March 3, 2015.

Personal

Born in Los Angeles, California, Davis grew up in Los Feliz. He attended The Buckley School in Sherman Oaks. Davis earned degrees from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. He is a member of the National Hispanic Bar Association. Davis is married to Emily Turner Davis, an editor for Island Press.

Career

In 1998, Davis worked in Los Angeles on Gray Davis' campaign for governor of California. He later became Special Assistant to the Governor. Davis then joined ABC News in 2003, later serving as deputy director of political coverage. Davis won a 2010 Emmy Award for team coverage of President Obama's inauguration. In 2011, Davis served as press secretary on the staff of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Davis collaborated with LA’s business team on the City’s "We're Not Waiting for Washington" Jobs Plan.

Davis' fellowship at USC involves mentoring students who are interested in public service.

Election

Davis has taken the transparency pledge developed by Dan Morain of the Sacramento Bee. The pledge calls for candidates to publicly disclose their interest group questionnaires. These questionnaires typically remain hidden from the public. Davis' campaign for Los Angeles City Council District Four has refunded more than $6,000 to real estate developers and refused all future donations from developers. He was quoted in the Huffington Post Los Angeles: "What you want really in a democracy is for everyone's voice to matter just as much as the next person's. And right now what we have is the ability for some people to give big sums of money, and they end up with an outsized influence on our system. And that's not what it's supposed to be. It's really supposed to be about everyone who wants to participate having an equal chance to influence their government."