(INDIANAPOLIS) – Salem Representative Steve Davisson’s fellow House members are remembering him as a model legislator and “a friend to every Hoosier.”
The pharmacist and six-term Republican died Sunday after a battle with cancer, one day before the House returned from a five-month recess to handle redistricting. House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) says Davisson was planning as recently as two weeks ago to be at the statehouse for this week’s votes on redistricting, despite a grim medical prognosis. New Albany Representative Ed Clere says Davisson was insistent that Republicans, who hold a 71-29 majority in the chamber, “might need his vote.”
Clere says Davisson “loved everything about (the statehouse)…but his heart was in Salem.” He recalls that while most legislators from outside central Indiana find apartments or hotels in Indianapolis during the session, Davisson made the four-hour roundtrip drive to and from Salem every day, even when sessions stretched past nightfall.
The combination of the pandemic and Davisson’s illness kept him away from the statehouse for much of this year’s session, though three bills he authored were signed into law. Huston says it’s “a crying shame” this year’s freshman legislators in both parties were denied the opportunity to get to know Davisson, whom Clere describes as the model of a citizen-legislator.
Knowing Davisson’s health, the House had planned the traditional tribute resolution for retiring members on Wednesday. Instead, members observed a moment of silence on Monday.
Precinct leaders in Davisson’s district have a month to select someone to serve the remaining year of Davisson’s term. The district covers Washington County and parts of five others, including Jackson County. The proposed new maps put Davisson and Seymour Representative Jim Lucas (R) in the same district, with parts of Jackson and Washington Counties, plus a slice of Scott County, which isn’t in either lawmaker’s current district.
