Riding in Style: North Carolina Rep. Don Davis Billed Taxpayers $2,300 in Ride Shares on Day He Toured Southern Border

In January 2024, Rep. Don Davis (D., N.C.) traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas, for a one-day tour of the southern border. He appears to have spent over $2,300 on taxis or ride shares on a trip that cost taxpayers nearly $10,000 in total.

On Jan. 5, 2024—the same day Davis posted an array of photos from Eagle Pass alongside Border Patrol agents and the town's Republican congressman, Tony Gonzales—he reported spending $2,315.54 on "taxi/ride share" services, according to his House Statement of Disbursements, a quarterly report that shows how lawmakers spend their taxpayer-funded office budgets. Davis also disclosed spending $6,717.48 on airfare between Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, 2024, as well as $850.67 on lodging and meals. Together, the costs add up to more than $9,800.

It's unclear how Davis, whose office did not respond to a request for comment, racked up the tab.

Davis appeared to travel from North Carolina to Texas to participate in the border tour—a photo he posted to X four days before the trip shows him attending a judicial swearing-in ceremony in Eastern North Carolina. A round-trip commercial flight from Raleigh—the closest major airport to Davis's home town of Snow Hill, N.C.—to San Antonio—the closest major airport to Eagle Pass—costs roughly $400 to $600. Assuming Davis flew to Texas the day before the tour and left the day after, a car rental covering the duration of the trip would cost roughly $200 to $300. If Davis drove to and from the Raleigh airport, a roughly 70-mile trip each way, he could have expensed roughly $100 in fuel costs.

Those costs amount to approximately $1,000 in airfare and ground travel instead of more than $9,000.

Davis and Gonzales appeared to share the same agenda when in Eagle Pass. The lawmakers remained at each other's side and posed for multiple photos as they toured border patrol facilities and other locations across the southern border, according to the photos Davis posted.

Gonzales, however, disclosed more modest expenses around the time of the trip. His House Statement of Disbursements shows that he and his staffers spent $452.73 on auto mileage, $217.90 on a car rental, and $169.04 on lodging between Jan. 3 and Jan. 5, 2024. Gonzales's statement also lists a $585.96 "airfare" expense between Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2024.

The revelation of Davis's liberal use of taxpayer funds comes as Americans express concerns over wasteful government spending. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the federal government is "wasteful," compared with just 24 percent who do not, according to an August 2025 Partnership for Public Service poll.

Davis, one of a handful of House Democrats who represent districts President Donald Trump carried in the 2024 election, has cast himself as one of the more moderate members of his party when it comes to the southern border. Davis used his visit to Eagle Pass to call for a bipartisan commitment to border security. Then, in 2025, he was one of 48 Democrats to vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act.

As a North Carolina state senator, however, Davis carried a more liberal voting record on immigration issues, opposing legislation that penalized sanctuary city policies and required local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.

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