Davis, a one-term Member who was defeated in the 1st district GOP primary last year by now-Rep. Phil Roe, said this week that he’s staying active in local party politics as he mulls a comeback bid in 2010.

“There’s not a day goes by back in the district that somebody doesn’t ask me ... ‘Are you going to run again?’” Davis said in an interview. “Right now I just honestly don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see if that enthusiasm is still there when we get closer to next year.”

Davis, who has returned to his post as president of the health care service company he founded in Johnson City, also offered his take on Roe’s performance during his first three months in Congress.

“I think he’s voted the way I would have voted. ... We’ll see how that goes in the future,” he said. However, Davis noted, “I don’t see him out quite as much in the community as I think I was.”

Davis added that he’s pleased the Tennessee state Legislature is considering a bill that would change the primary system by making voters register for a specific political party. Currently, Volunteer State voters simply declare at the polls which party’s nominating process they want to vote in.

Following his loss to Roe, Davis claimed he had been a victim of crossover voting by a large number of Democrats who, he said, went to the polls for Roe because they believed Davis would be the tougher candidate to beat in the general election.

“A lot of Democrats voted for [Roe] last time,” Davis said of the GOP primary. “They probably won’t be there for him” in 2010.