Pauline Lillian Vakoch Davis (January 3, 1917 – December 14, 1995) was an American politician and her career was the longest of any woman in either house of the California Legislature.

Following the divorce, she met Lester Thomas Davis, eleven years her senior, on a blind date set up by acquaintances of the pair.

Lester Davis, at that time, was a Western Pacific Railroad engineer, himself divorced, with a son, and running a Democratic campaign for Assemblyman in a district covering several rural Northern California counties.

[8] On May 23, 1952, Lester Davis died at home from thrombosis while writing a speech as part of the campaign for his fourth Assembly term.

Nevertheless, John Bryant, a real estate man and her Republican opponent, considered her candidacy so much of a joke that while she was campaigning in Tulelake, he openly mocked her with two other men as she was walking down the street.

"[9] In 1959, the Legislature enacted the Burns-Porter Act, authorizing $1.75 billion for the construction of the State Water Project but, in order to do so, Brown was forced to appease Davis and others by signing a companion bill, the Davis-Grunsky Act, co-authored by Davis and Donald L. Grunsky, a Republican Senator from Watsonville, California.

[1][9][10][11] Davis followed this Legislative success with passage, in 1961, of the Davis-Dolwig Act, co-authored with Senator Richard J. Dolwig, from San Mateo County.

In celebration of her efforts, there is a Lester T. Davis roadside rest in Plumas County, named in honor of her late husband.

Davis felt that fairs offered an opportunity for all of the people of the state, including BIPOC children in urban settings, to see agriculture, wildlife, and other animals.