Story updated November 11, 2020 with Michael Hopkins comment
SAN DIEGO — Now that Sara Jacobs has been elected as her successor, retiring Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-San Diego) says she would like to work in the future either part-time or as a volunteer in the San Diego Jewish community, specifically mentioning her admiration for the work of Jewish Family Service.
Davis will complete 20 years as a congresswoman representing San Diego on Sunday, January 3. The new Congress is likely to be sworn in on Tuesday, Jan. 5. At such time, Jacobs officially will become the representative of California’s 53rd Congressional District.
Asked during a telephone interview what she anticipated doing after January, Davis responded: “I’ve been looking for opportunities. I would love to do something with the Jewish community, actually. I wasn’t willing to sit down with anybody to talk with this, especially with COVID. Everything hit us so hard with that, that I wanted to focus all my attention on that and not be distracted.”
Asked if she had anything specific in mind, she answered: “Jewish Family Service has been involved in a whole host of issues over the years. … I obviously have a bond with the Jewish community and I’m always impressed by what people are doing and just how dedicated they are to the job at hand.”
She added “I am not looking for a full time job,” — she would like to be able to spend more time with her husband, Dr. Steve Davis — but would like to explore either a part-time or volunteer position with JFS.
Asked if she had been in touch with Michael Hopkins, chief executive officer of Jewish Family Service, Davis said, “He wanted to have a conversation but it was in the middle of things.” Because of the impact of the coronavirus on her district, she added, “everyone was in need of a lot of attention and I really thought I should focus on that.”
Issues that have drawn the attention of both JFS and Congresswoman Susan Davis in the past have included immigration, providing for people while they await their asylum hearings, homelessness, feeding the hungry and assuring that the families of enlisted military members do not face food insecurity.
“They have done so many things for the entire community, not just the Jewish community,” Davis commented approvingly.
Hopkins later commented: “Rep. Susan Davis has been a wonderful friend of JFS for decades. We welcome the opportunity to continue to partner in the future.”
Our conversation turned to Sara Jacobs who defeated San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez in a race in which Davis did not endorse either candidate. Davis said that through her career, she has tried to stay out of “primary elections” and then back the Democrat who emerges. Although Jacobs and Gomez faced off in a general election, Davis said she tried to follow that rule of not choosing between fellow Democrats. On the other hand, she acknowledged, she did back Todd Gloria over Barbara Bry in an all-Democratic general election contest for mayor of San Diego. Davis has mentored Todd Gloria since the days when she had served as executive director of the Aaron Price Fellowship which selected high school students to be given behind-the-scenes introductions to government and business. Davis said she has a lot of admiration for Bry, but failing to back Gloria would have been like not supporting one’s own child — that’s how close their relationship is.
After the election, Jacobs visited Davis’s district headquarters at 2700 Adams Avenue, Suite 102. to determine whether she’d like to stay at that location or perhaps find other offices. While members of Congress may select their own district offices, their offices at the U.S. Capitol are assigned by lottery, Davis said.
Whereas Davis is serving on the Labor & Education Committee and the Armed Services Committee, Jacobs has indicated she would be interested in being assigned to Labor & Education and the Foreign Relations Committee, the latter building on Jacobs’ previous assignments at the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, and UNICEF.
Davis responded that when she was first elected in 2000 to what was then the 49th District included most of the military installations of central San Diego. After reapportionment stemming from the 2010 census, she found herself in the 53rd Congressional District, which had only one-third overlap of territory with the old 49th District. While many military installations were placed in other districts, a lot of military personnel continued to live in her district. She said she was able to address their needs as the chair of the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel.
About Jacobs, Davis said: “She’ll decide what is the best fit for her; we all go through that.” The idea , she added, is to find a good fit between committee assignments and the community one is representing.”
Davis said for herself the fit was in committee assignments enabling her to serve both the military community and the LGBTQ community, which is centered in the Hillcrest neighborhood of the 53rd Congressional District.
“I think the ability to serve the military community here in San Diego and really focus on families was very important,” she said. “It comes out of my roots in social work as well as having the skills to do that. I also represented the LGBTQ community,” becoming involved in the transition from ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” for LGBTQ people in the military to acceptance of gay personnel.
Davis said as chair of the subcommittee on military personnel she didn’t author the bill repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy but helped to keep it moving through the Congress. President Barack Obama “let me stand up with him when they signed the bill; I was so involved with that issue, with all the contacts I had. As the personnel chair, you are asked to sit down and speak with many of the Navy brass and mid-level positions in the services, so I had constant contact with people, and I always raised those issues.” She said word got around the Pentagon that she would bring up the issue of LGBTQ rights in the military during any conversation and would listen carefully to their answers. “They appreciated the fact that I was asking questions and not just knee jerking about the issue,” she said.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com