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A vulnerable House Democrat in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District is facing scrutiny over expenses eclipsing over $40,000 in payments to a furniture and interior design company for refurbishing a district office.
In the second quarter of 2023, Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., reported $27,300 in taxpayer-funded “habitation expenses” and another $13,030 for “office supplies and furniture,” according to congressional disclosure records — second overall among the 435 members in the House of Representatives.
When pressed by Fox News Digital about the expenses, Davis blamed redistricting and “rising costs,” which would have been during the Biden administration.
“Upon my first election to Congress, we immediately set to work establishing our congressional office within the new district, starting from scratch with no furniture and limited supplies. After subsequent redistricting, we expanded our offices to serve our constituents better,” Davis told Fox News Digital. “These expenses underscore not only the rising costs we are facing nationwide but also the financial impact of redistricting.”
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Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., speaks at a rally on October 13th, 2024. (Cornell Watson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Only one other member, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., appeared to have higher habitation expenses than Davis in 2023.
Taff Office, which currently operates as “Young Office” after a merger in 2025, is an interior design company designing “spaces that inspire, motivate and engage.”
When asked about the expenses, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) argued the expenses fall under the appropriate parameters of Davis’ duties.
“One of the most basic functions of a Congress in maintaining an office to serve the people in their district. Congressman Davis has some of the best constituent services in the country. Maybe if Republicans followed his example they wouldn’t feel the need to once again redistrict the state in an effort to save their flailing House majority,” Madison Andrus, a spokesperson for the DCCC said.
However, during the 2022 election cycle, the DCCC used habitation expenses as an attack against then-Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, who spent a small fraction of the $40,000+ that Davis did. A Fox News Digital review of an oppo research book that the DCCC compiled against Chabot, shows that he spent less than $7,000 between 2011 and 2022.
A spokesperson for the GOP-run Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) called Davis’ expenses out of touch with the challenges faced by state residents and framed them as a part of a larger pattern of spending.
“North Carolina families struggle every day to make ends meet while Congressman Don Davis is wasting their hard-earned money on $2,300 Ubers and $40,000 office renovations. This isn’t just reckless spending—it’s a pattern of abusing the taxpayer dollars Davis was entrusted to protect. North Carolinians have had enough and will boot Don Davis from office come November,” Torunn Sinclair, a spokesperson for CLF, said.
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Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., speaks at a campaign event on Oct. 13, 2024. (David Yeazell/Unknown)
While not the highest habitation expense among lawmakers, Davis’ 2023 record comes amid reports of other high costs expensed to taxpayers during his years of public service. In comparison, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, another North Carolina Democrat who was sworn into office in 2023, appears to have spent under $3,000 in habitation expenses that same year.
Reporting from The Center Square in March uncovered that Davis took $4,500 in per diems over the course of 19 days where he did not participate in any votes, accepting the allowances granted to cover lodging and travel costs for the lawmakers’ trips to the state capitol.
Since his election to Congress, Davis has also received criticism for spending nearly $10,000 on a trip to the U.S. southern border in 2024, racking up almost $7,000 in airfare costs.
Members of Congress are required to report expenses covered by the government, like costs for running an office.
Among the categories of items covered, a habitation expense covers “minor, minimal expenses incurred for decorating offices.”
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Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., pictured in 2024 (Getty Images)
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“This category includes furniture items such as chairs, tables, etc., which cost less than $500. Furniture that costs more than $500 and less than $25,000 should appear under the expense category or budget object code for furniture and fixtures less than $25,000,” the House website reads.
The use of habitation expenses has varied widely depending on lawmakers’ needs, but has also landed some lawmakers in hot water for overly flamboyant expenses.
Former Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., famously received criticism in 2015 for spending and then repaying $40,000 in taxpayer funds to refurbish a district office in the style of Downtown Abby, according to the Associated Press.
Davis will be facing Laurie Buckhout, a “retired Army Colonel and decorated combat commander” in November’s general election.
