Arthur Davidson
Arthur Davidson | |
|---|---|
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| 41st President of Zamastan | |
| Assumed office September 22nd, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Sabine Armitage |
| Senator for Holish Islands-2 | |
| In office September 22nd, 2014 – September 22nd, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Aniani Mahaulu |
| Succeeded by | Lu'ukia Lani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Arthur Anthony Davidson April 27, 1969 Lamnoque, Holish Islands, Zamastan |
| Political party | Green Liberal Party |
Arthur Davidson (born April 27, 1969) is a Zamastanian politician and attorney who currently serves as the 41st President of Zamastan since 2024. He previously served as the Senator for Holish Islands' 2nd district from 2014-24. A member of the Green Liberal Party, Davidson wrote, sponsored, and passed legislation advancing women's rights, affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and single-payer healthcare. He has pushed for economic reforms to address wealth inequality nationally, particularly the racial wealth gap. Davidson has pursued measures to reform the criminal justice system, combat climate change, and restructure national immigration policy.
Davidson attended Untavia University, and then Branstad Law School, where he was an editor of the Arinals Law Review. He graduated in 1994, and served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Kacper Hogg, and then practiced corporate litigation at a firm in Tofino. Beginning in 2002 he worked as a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice, where he supervised the investigation and prosecution of the Al-Ashan airbase bombers. President Cassious Castovia appointed Davidson to the Holish Islands Court of Appeals in 2007, and he served as an associate judge from 2007 to 2013. In 2014 he sought the senate seat for outgoing Aniani Mahaulu, and defeated his BCP opponent with nearly 55% of the vote. His district reelected him by large margins every election since.
On September 5th, 2023, he announced his candidacy for president in the 2024 election, becoming the second candidate after Euan Gunn to challenge incumbent-President Sabine Armitage. With the GLP's agreed policy to select a single candidate for the election, Gunn and Davidson competed for the nomination, ultimately Davidson secured it in February 2024. He won the presidency with more than 60% of the popular vote. Early in his administration, Davidson was forced to contend with spiraling crises as a result of the Roca War and the Trimbelle Leaks.
Early life and education
Legal career
Senate
Elections
On December 20, 2013, Davidson announced that he would explore running for the senate seat then occupied by Aniani Mahaulu in the 2014 election, ending speculation that he would challenge then-Governor Lea Kimo in the 2014 gubernatorial election. About a month later, Mahaulu—then 89 years old—announced that he would not seek reelection in 2014. Mahaulu died in June 2014, leaving his seat vacant. Davidson ran against BCP-candidate Bazel Webb. Davidson defeated Webb in the general election, 54.9% to 44.0%.
Tenure
Presidential campaign
On September 5th, 2023, Davidson announced his campaign for the GLP nomination for President of Zamastan in the 2024 presidential election. Before his announcement, it was widely speculated that he would run for president but he expressed uncertainty about it. "We are going to end the long spell of twenty years worth of executive conservative overreach in this country," Senator Davidson said in his campaign announcement. "I am running to join the world in the state of true liberalism. Freedom of the individual, responsible oversight, and no more institutional failure with lax guides. We have seen that the liberal side of this country is vehemently popular and is often in the majority of public opinion, but the conservative clampdown of the past, not 1, not 2, not 3, but 6 presidential administrations has resulted in our ideology's inability to gain executive function. Moderation isn't the key at this point, it's a full embrace of liberal values. It is time to organize, time to galvanize, time to take back our democracy."
"Let us cross the ocean of our divides and walk across our sturdy bridge to higher ground," Davidson said, symbolically gesturing to the Samson Ocean in the background at the outdoor event in Lamnoque. A sense of community "is fracturing across our nation right now, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics," he added. "We are all tired of the shutdowns and the putdowns, the gridlock and the grandstanding. It is time to heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good."
Davidson also said he will "focus on getting things done" as president. "Let me be blunt: For too long leaders in Tofino have sat on the sidelines while others try to figure out what to do about the changing economy and its impact on our lives, what to do about the disruptive nature of new technologies, income inequality, the political and geographic divides, the changing climate, the tumult in our world," he said. "For a moment, let’s stop seeing those obstacles as obstacles on our path. Did we view the snow as an obstacle? No we did not. Let’s see those obstacles as our path."
He entered the race as the second GLP candidate, after Euan Gunn, widely seen as a moderate choice. However, Davidson's standing with the Progressive Alliance Party served to boost his standing among the more left-leaning caucuses, and Davidson quickly rose in favorability ratings among candidates. Within a month after Davidson announced his candidacy, former-Governor Antonio Erresi, Senator Lauren Saunders, and every Liberal member of the Congressional Hall from the Holish Islands endorsed him. Governor William Ortesia sparked controversy when he joked at a charity dinner that he would sign an executive order to remove Davidson as senator so he would lose the race, but Davidson quipped days later that he and Ortesia were on good terms despite differing politics.
Throughout the campaign, Davidson gradually climbed through polling and performed well in public debates against Gunn. Gunn suspended his campaign in February 2024 and endorsed Davidson, becoming the first sole-GLP nominee since 2000. Rallying against incumbent president Sabine Armitage, who was becoming increasingly unpopular, by comparison the charismatic Davidson appearing as a moderate garnered him widespread coalition support. The PAP, which had broken away from the GLP years earlier along progressive lines, agreed to endorse Davidson in hopes of congregating votes which otherwise would split the liberal bloc, and in doing so would ideally widely outnumber Armitage.
During the course of the campaign, several scandals emerged in Armitage's administration which impacted her popularity for reelection. On July 20th 2024, ZIS director Adrian Sardou stated the Yuaneze government was attempting to interfere in and influence the election in favor of president Armitage. Secretary of State Chantelle Carson was visiting Shanghan to meet with Premier Liang Cai the same day, and said Liang insisted there was no interference. In September, an invasion of North Kandson by Rettoa and its allies led Congressional Hall to approve military aid packages to North Kandson, but President Armitage vetoed a majority of the supply and ordered Zamastanian forces at Cain Air Base to stand down.
On election day, Davidson won a landslide electoral victory, securing 191 districts and roughly 60.5% of the popular vote. Davidson's victory coincided with a massive majority win for the liberal bloc in the 111th congress. Lu'ukia Lani filled Davidson's vacant senate seat.
Presidency
Inauguration and early actions
Davidson was inaugurated on September 23rd, 2024 at Congressional Hall, becoming the 41st president of Zamastan. He was sworn in by Supreme Court chief justice Roosevelt Dunn using a bible once owned by Caius Aebutius. He was then introduced by Speaker Alisha Fletcher and outgoing Senate president pro-tempore Burhan Swanson.
Davidson's first cabinet appointments were approved without delay, as the senate was controlled by the liberal bloc with a super majority. Every member of the cabinet were asked by Davidson to resign, with the exception of Attorney General Winston Currie and Director of National Intelligence and the ZIS Adrian Sardou. Davidson pulled across party lines to secure Sylvia Wood as the Secretary of State. Makan Sayasone was named Secretary of the Treasury, becoming the highest-ranked government figure of Phouan descent in Zamastanian history. Former-Chief of the Army Elijah Thatcher was named Secretary of Defense. Senator Eustace Casey was named Secretary of Health and Human Services, and senator Jaime Rollins was slated as Secretary of Education. Congressman and pastor Joseph Deloffre was named Davidson's Chief of Staff.
Domestic policy
Foreign policy
Political positions
Davidson has been called a liberal and progressive. As a senator, he has a liberal voting record. In a February 2023 interview with Samuel Divian, Davidson said, "there's nothing in that realm of progressive politics where you won't find me."
Davidson supports long-term deficit reduction efforts to ensure economic prosperity, cap and trade taxation to combat climate change, and increased funding for education. He has spoken in favor of creating a federal job guarantee and baby bonds (low-risk savings accounts that minors get access to at age 18). In the Senate, he has emphasized issues of racial and social justice. He played a leading role in the push to pass the Take a Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill. He supports the legalization of cannabis and decriminalization of many other drugs. Davidson supports abortion rights, and also supports a single-payer health care plan through the expansion of ZamCare.
Davidson supports free trade economics while also reliably voting for pro-trade union legislation.
On foreign policy, Davidson supports scaling down Zamastanian military personnel in exchange for modernizing equipment and aiding allies through supply. He was a critic of the 1999-2005 War in Vulkaria and the Terehan War. However, during the outbreak of the Roca War, he was a supporter of clearing Zamastanian forces stationed at Cain Air Base to conduct airstrikes against Rettoan, Stassoan, and Saterocean forces.
Despite his reputation as a progressive, progressives have criticized Davidson on occasion. In 2017, he voted against a proposal to lower prescription drug prices, which led to criticism that he was too dependent on corporate support.