What his first 3 years in office have taught Congressman Warren Davidson

Congressman Warren Davidson said no matter which of the three times he took the congressional oath of office, the moment was a “surreal.”

Davidson, R-Troy, took his first oath of office on June 9, 2016, just two days after he won a special election to fill former House speaker John Boehner’s unexpired term. Boehner resigned in October 2015, and his seat was vacant until Davidson’s election to represent Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, which includes all or parts of Butler, Clark, Darke, Mercer, Miami and Preble counties.

“The special election was the 7th, I flew out to (Washington, D.C.) on the 8th and was sworn in on the 9th,” Davidson said. “It’s hard to believe it’s been three years.”

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He said “nothing’s going to beat the first time you come in,” though it was a bit unusual as he didn’t receive the orientation freshman would receive at the start of a full term.

“You sign a form, take a picture, take the oath and they give you your voting card,” he said of his first day as a congressman.

While Boehner was a moderate Republican, Davidson is politically right of Boehner. He fired up the political left back in 2016 when called those who take advantage of the VA benefits “moochers” during an event with the Concerned Veterans for America.

"In the three years he's been in Congress, Warren Davidson's only real significant accomplishment is playing an active role in making Nancy Pelosi Speaker again," said Butler County Democratic Party Chairman Brian Hester. "Davidson has also turned his back on our nation's farmers by voting against the Farm Bill, and again this past week by voting against funding disaster aid."

RELATED: Area Congressmen Jordan, Davidson won’t back farm bill (May 2018)

RELATED: Davidson defends ‘moochers’ statement (September 2016)

Davidson said he is “blown away of how many just really good people are there, people there for the right reasons.”.

“I didn’t have a high opinion of Congress or else I wouldn’t have run for Congress,” he said.

Davidson won re-election to his second full term in November 2018 and he said he’s “very encouraged on the talent of people in Congress on both sides of the aisle.

The past three years for Davidson have been a whirlwind as he immediately went to work by offering an amendment not to require women to register for the draft, which passed.

“At that time there was momentum requiring women to register for the draft, and there was a large bloc that would like no registration for the draft,” said Davidson.

But some of Davidson’s “biggest wins,” he said, have his fingerprints on them but not his name. Those include being involved in the discussions with issues like the Foreign Investment Risk Reduction Modernization Act, which changed how the Committee on Foreign Investment reviews outside interment.

Davidson is now part of the whip team to get the USMCA, often referred to as the new NAFTA, moved and passed through Congress. Congress has 90 days to act on it once it’s presented to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, though he said it might be harder to pass the closer it is to the election cycle “because Democrats don’t want to give the president a win politically.”

“It’s a better deal than NAFTA, and is more comprehensive … for all three countries it’s a win, but the question is can we work together and get it across the finish line,” he said.

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