Davis received a B.S. from the Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee in 1964. He is a businessman and farmer and was mayor of Byrdstown, Tennessee from 1978 to 1982. From 1980 to 1984 he was a member of the Tennessee state house of representatives and from 1996 to 2002 a member of the Tennessee state senate. He was elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Eighth Congress (January 3, 2003-present).
He married in 1963 and has three daughters and five grandchildren.