A former North Carolina state senator received full per diem on nearly two dozen days he missed all votes, got another four-figure check after having been sworn into Congress, and chose silence for explanation to an investigation by The Center Square.
Now a member of Congress, Democratic U.S. Rep. Don Davis is trying to secure a third term in a district redrawn to favor a Republican winning the northeastern corner of the state for the first time since 1882. Retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout, a Republican from Edenton and former member of the Trump administration, and Libertarian Tom Bailey of Greensboro are also on the Nov. 3 ballot for the 1st Congressional District.
Analysis by The Center Square of Davis’ per diem and voting records for six terms in the state Senate show 19 days missing all votes with per diem taken for each; $1,248 in per diems accepted the last four months of 2022 well after the final vote (July 26) of the session; and $1,352 in per diem dated in 2023 four days after being sworn into Congress.
Given multiple days to respond to The Center Square findings about the $4,576, Davis declined.
Per diem, lawmaker pay
Davis declined to answer any of six questions from The Center Square. Some were basic in nature about understanding per diem rules, others about direct occasions. He didn’t share his understanding of the law or his pattern of practice in compliance.
Davis also declined to answer if it’s acceptable on days when all votes are excused absences, or to share if he was on state legislative business, or personal, such as a death in the family, for 19 such occasions on his record. He was even given an open-ended chance to opine.
Rather, Davis’ director of communications spoke for him to The Center Square’s requests.
“Congressman Davis values his service representing eastern North Carolina in the state Senate,” said Dylan Heneghan, communications director in Davis’ Washington office. “During his time in office, he followed established per diem policies in accordance with standard legislative procedures applied to all legislators and state law.
“The Office of Financial Services is best equipped to clarify the legislative intent and administration of per diem policies of the North Carolina General Assembly.”
Mitch Kokai, senior political analyst at the John Locke Foundation, remembers legislative leaders in years past cutting off per diem when they knew legislative business was at a standstill and there was no need to be in Raleigh.
“Most of us probably expect lawmakers to collect pay for the days when they’re actively working in a regular legislative session,” Kokai told The Center Square. “When they’re not meeting day after day and week after week, though, continued per diem payments can raise eyebrows.
State law gives lawmakers some flexibility about determining when they are eligible for this addition to their base bay. We all should hope that they decide to be frugal when choosing when to take or reject the extra money.”
March 23, 2016, is the one day of per diem waived by Davis during his six terms, according to the Office of the Legislative Librarian at the North Carolina General Assembly in response to a public records request from The Center Square.
Davis’ record
Davis won election to the state Senate in 2008, was unseated in the historic 2010 midterms, and was victorious again in November 2012. He won reelection in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020, and in 2022 chose to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in a district in the northeastern part of the state.
In his six terms in Raleigh, he had 24 days with excused absences on votes – missing all votes on 19 of those days. Davis picked up $1,976 in per diems for the 19 days he missed all votes.
Those include March 23, 2009; March 24, 2009; April 1, 2009; July 1, 2013; July 2, 2013; July 3, 2013; Sept. 4, 2013; May 31, 2014; June 24, 2019; Oct. 8, 2019; March 11, 2021; May 10, 2021; May 11, 2021; May 17, 2021; May 20, 2021; June 10, 2021; Aug. 26, 2021; June 6, 2022; June 29, 2022.
Among the votes, his constituents didn’t have a voice on those days: cooperation by lawmen with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in two different two-year sessions, each bill vetoed by former Gov. Roy Cooper; and Remove Foreign Citizens from Voting Rolls, another Cooper veto. There was an abortion policy proposal and the biogas controversy with hog farms as part of the North Carolina Farm Act.
Also, the Appropriations Act of 2014; COVID-19 relief appropriation; foster parents Bill of Rights; Safe Harbor/Human Trafficking; Tax Simplification; and in two different two-year sessions, proposals impacting the State Health Plan that serves about 750,000 state employees and retirees.
Davis also missed votes on Medicaid expansion when it seemed impossible and on the Alcoholic Beverage Control System.
As Davis campaigned for Congress in 2022, the state Senate – typical for a midterm election year – had little business scheduled, met infrequently, and had no votes after July 26. Davis’ per diem collections were $312 each (three days worth, as permitted by statute) on Aug. 4, Sept. 1, Oct. 6, Nov. 3 and Dec. 1, and $624 on Dec. 22.
His term ended Dec. 31. On Jan. 11, 2023, four days after being sworn into Congress, legislative records show him with a check cut for $1,352.
Per diem statute
Subsistence and travel allowance for members of the General Assembly, General Statute 120-3.1 says, calculates weekly travel allowance or fraction thereof the body is in regular or extra session. There is travel allowance and subsistence for meals and lodging.
The statute also says in part, “When the General Assembly by joint action of the two houses adjourns to a day certain, which day is more than three days after the date of adjournment, the period between the date of adjournment and the date of reconvening shall for the purposes of this section be deemed to be a period when the General Assembly is not in session, and no member shall be entitled to subsistence and travel allowance during that period, except under circumstances which would entitle him to subsistence and travel allowance when the General Assembly is not in session.”
Unlike most businesses in America, legislators do not have to file claims or record of expenses to receive the allowance. If the lawmaker opts not to be paid for a particular day, they notify the Financial Services office.
As an example, in 2016 amid the state’s controversial “bathroom bill” formally known as House Bill 2, four of 15 Democratic senators were absent or did not vote and requested withholding their subsistence stipend and travel allowance for the special session. Some were there, tried to offer amendments that were denied, and then chose not to vote, according to Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, in a published report.
In Reforming North Carolina’s General Assembly, a November 2024 report from the John Locke Foundation, an unnamed lawmaker said the expectation is not to “make a livable wage or livable salary with this job.”
“I didn’t even ask how much money it paid when I ran the first time because … I just didn’t do it,” the lawmaker says in the report. “I mean, I don’t think anybody does it for that. Then you get into it and realize you’re losing income, right? Or that 105 or [103] dollars a day per diem isn’t going to pay for the hotel room [and meals] that you need. That’s when you realize, ‘Oh my gosh, we should be paid more money."”
Lawmakers giving themselves raises never tends to go over well at the ballot box, even if the salary is $13,951 for 31 consecutive years and counting. Accepting per diem on days of excused absences would likely prompt similar conversations from constituents.
Davis earns $174,000 annually as a congressman.
Nov. 3 ballot
On Nov. 3, only the 1st Congressional District figures to be a toss-up for North Carolina’s 14 seats in the House. With Democrats again not fielding a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District race, Republicans are not threatened there by the October redraw that affected only those two districts and left the other 12 intact.
Differentiations due to court orders have been applied to each map used for four of the last five congressional elections – 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022. The Legislature drew it in 2024, and this year’s map has already survived litigation.
As newly constructed in the Realign Congressional Districts 2025, known also as Senate Bill 249, six counties were moved from the 3rd Congressional District to the 1st Congressional District. Four counties went from the 1st to the 3rd. In the reconstruction, Republicans said their hope was to gain another seat – they have 10 to Democrats’ four in the 119th Congress – in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties changed from the 3rd to the 1st Congressional District; Wilson, Wayne, Greene and Lenoir counties changed from the 1st to the 3rd.
Davis bested Buckhout 49.5%-47.8% in the only 2024 race for U.S. House in the state that was closer than 13%. In the 3rd, Republican incumbent Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy defeated Libertarian Gheorghe Cormos 77.4%-22.6%; this year, he will again not face a Democratic challenger, needing only to get by Lexington Libertarian Daniel Cavender.
Regarding Bailey and Cavender not living in districts in which they are candidates, there is no residency requirement. Davis, in fact, has said he will move from his Snow Hill home back into the district if he defeats Buckhout.