On November 17, 2019 Davis announced a congressional bid for North Carolina's 11th congressional district held by retiring Republican Mark Meadows. Davis says that he initially ran for Congress because when he looked at the Democrats running with him, he didn't see anyone who could compete with Meadows. However, once Meadows dropped out of the race, he continued running because "I figured I’ve got 30-plus years of defending democracy, and just to sit back now and watch it go down the drain just wasn’t palatable." Davis entered the Democratic primary along with Democrats Michael O'Shea, Gina Collias, Phillip Price and Steve Woodsmall. Davis won the primary on March 3, 2020, with 47.35 percent of the vote. Collias was a distant second with 22.67 percent.