when former speaker of the illinois house of representatives and democratic minority leader john touhy took a seat on the cook county board, davis became the subject of a draft effort by fellow african american house members including harold washington, raymond w. ewell, and lewis a. h. caldwell. around this time, there was a similar push to elevate cecil a. partee to the position of president of the illinois senate. partee was elevated to the senate presidency while davis was appointed to the leadership team of democratic house minority leader clyde l. choate. in 1975, just months after democrats regained the majority in the house, davis resigned his position in leadership after he was ignored during a debate on the equal rights amendment by speaker william a. redmond.