Before entering provincial politics Davis was the media relations officer for the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) and the Deputy Mayor of Conception Bay South.

[5] Davis was also a town councillor in the St. John's area municipality of Conception Bay South, and reached the position of Deputy Mayor.

[9] Following the appointment of member of the House of Assembly Elizabeth Marshall to the Canadian Senate, Davis announced he would seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in her former district of Topsail.

Due to his illness he would be unable to make public appearances till he finished his cancer treatments, and would work from his home.

[17] Due to his battle with cancer Davis was unable to campaign in public during the October election, despite this was re-elected with 68 per cent of the popular vote.

[28][29] On May 1, 2014, Premier Tom Marshall held a cabinet shuffle and appointed Davis as the Minister of Health and Community Services, replacing Susan Sullivan.

Davis' appointment came after the government reversed a previous decision to provide cancer treatment at a new hospital in Corner Brook.

Sullivan had stated for years that the population in the Corner Brook area did not warrant radiation therapy or a Positron emission tomography (PET) scanner.

[31] In June 2014, Davis along with Marshall announced a company had been hired to evaluate the best plan for providing radiation therapy at the Corner Brook hospital.

[32] Davis resigned as Minister of Health and Community Services on July 2, 2014, to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.

[33][35] Businessman Frank Coleman eventually became the lone candidate in the race and was expected to be sworn in as party leader on July 5, 2014.

[33] On August 8, 2014, Abacus Data released an opinion poll that showed Davis was the favourite among the public to win the leadership of the PC Party.

[7] During his swearing in ceremony Davis stated that one of his first priorities will be to strike an advisory committee on crime, which he had promised during his leadership bid.

The commitment came after an 11-year-old boy had been stabbed the previous evening while participating in a skills competition on a soccer field near Davis' district of Topsail.

He later told reporters that the advisory committee would bring together people involved in corrections, law enforcement, mental health and advocacy.

In a surprise move Davis announced that St. John's lawyer Judy Manning would serve as the department's new minister, despite not being an elected member of the House of Assembly.

[44][45] Davis received criticism for dropping justice from the department's name as well as the appointment of Manning, due to her being unelected and not willing to seek a seat in the House of Assembly until the next election.

Manning stated that she had already spoken to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary about them being the Public Safety Answering Point in the event an agreement could not be reached with the SJRFD.

Manning was replaced as Minister of Justice and Public Safety by Darin King while Felix Collins took over as Attorney General.

Davis stated that he had planned to call an election this Spring but that changed when he decided to eliminate eight seats from the House of Assembly and he was not prepared to have Manning serve as an unelected minister for a full year.

[51] On January 15, 2015, Davis announced that the House of Assembly would be opening the following week so that his government could bring forth legislation to reduce the number of electoral districts in the province by 10.

Davis announced he was speeding up the process in order to reduce the number of districts before the next election, which is supposed to be called by September 2015.

[52] Along with reducing the number of electoral districts, the Davis government will also review MHA pension plans and identify measures to increase the participation of elected members in the House of Assembly.

[59] Davis appointed leadership rival Steve Kent as Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Community Services.

A private or non-profit provider would construct and operate new long-term care facilities and the provincial government would pay a per-bed fee.

Just weeks before Davis won the leadership race a Corporate Research Associates (CRA) poll showed the Liberals had 32 point lead over the PC Party.

[65] Quarterly polls released by CRA over the next year showed little movement in voters intentions when it came to support for the Progressive Conservatives or Davis as choice for premier.

[74] Davis led his party to defeat in the November 30, 2015, provincial election but an Angus Reid poll conducted during his final weeks as premier showed a jump in support for him.

He sent a letter to PC Party president Mark Whiffen requesting a leadership convention be held to elect a new leader.

Davis, who had been facing a leadership review at the party's upcoming Annual General Meeting, stated that he would remain leader until his successor was chosen.