U.S. Rep. David Davis, R-1st, of Johnson City, has nearly completed his two-year term in Congress and and has returned home. Most likely he will not have to return to Washington on official business before his term expires on Jan. 6.

"Unless there's another buyout vote," Davis quipped in a recent interview. With Congress gone home for the Christmas break, he said he thinks the possibility of calling the members back to Washington during the holidays is remote.

Davis, 49, may be through with weekly commutes to Washington together with his wife, Joyce, but "I'm not going away," he said in the telephone interview.

"I'm going to be involved. I still love East Tennessee, and the people I was elected to represent."

Davis was narrowly defeated for re-election in the Republican primary last August by Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe, a retired physician, who will take office in January.

District-wide, Roe received 25,916 unofficial votes, or 50 percent, while Davis had 25,416 votes, or 49 percent, a difference of 500 votes, according to the Associated Press's unofficial vote tally on Friday, Aug. 8.

A statement from the congressman's office that day said the margin was actually only 460 votes of the more than 51,000 cast.

The Greeneville Sun asked Davis, a one-term congressman who previously served six years in the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing Washington County, to look back over the past two years and talk about highs and lows, lessons and disappointments.

"My conservative agenda -- keeping taxes low and reducing spending, right-to-life issues, and Second Amendment issues -- were the things I worked a lot on," Davis said.

This year, he said, he joined about 20 other members of Congress to work to make sure that the words "In God We Trust," which appear above the Speaker's chair in the House of Representatives, were also included in the replica of the House Chamber created this year for the new Capitol Visitors Center.

Davis said the Capitol architects working on the visitors center initially left "In God We Trust," the national motto, out of the replica. But because of strong interest by a relatively small number of House members, when the center opened this fall, the motto was included.

"Keeping our Christian heritage in place is one of the things I'm most proud of," Davis said.

Another high spot, he said, was his July 2007 trip to Iraq.

While part of a congressional delegation to Iraq, he was able to be briefed by top military leaders, and able to interact with troops from Tennessee.

Within the district, Davis said, a major personal high spot was the "First Congressional District History, Heritage and Tourism Conference" he convened and hosted at Tusculum College in December 2007 to "showcase East Tennessee to itself, and to others outside the area."

More than 235 people attended the half-day conference, which included talks and presentations by a number of regional heritage tourism experts. Many participants did not want to leave when it ended, he noted.

Davis said he had learned while campaigning that many East Tennesseans know the history of their own community, but fewer know the history of neighboring counties, or of the region as a whole.

He said he thought then, and continues to believe, that East Tennessee as a whole "has enough history to have people come and visit," and enough scenic beauty, attractions, and opportunities for fun and adventure to justify "spending a whole vacation" here.

Attendees at the conference included not only history buffs but also state and local appointed and elected officials.

Davis said he hopes to continue to be active in promoting that idea.

He said he also tried hard to make sure that his office provided a high level of constituent services.

Davis said the office handled 57,000 "correspondences" with constituents -- phone calls, e-mails or letters -- in two years.

"We worked hard making sure veterans were taken care of, Social Security needs were taken care of, people who needed passports or needed someone to cut through the red tape of government" got help.

"Those are the main things I remember," Rep. Davis said.

He said that "not being able to continue my congressional service was the biggest disappointment" in his short Washington career.

Congress "really is a seniority-based system," Davis said, and it takes time to become effective.

He said his appointment as ranking member of the Small Business Committee in one term "would have set me up for even higher leadership positions" in the future, should Republicans regain majority control of the House.

Davis said he thinks his decision to retain Brenda Otterson as his chief of staff -- the same post she held for 10 years for former Rep. Bill Jenkins and before that for former Rep. James H. "Jimmy" Quillen -- was a good one.

Otterson has been on Capitol Hill "for over a quarter of a century, and she loves the First District" of Tennessee, though she is an Illinois native, Davis emphasized.

Otterson, who is this year's president of the Congressional Chief of Staff's Association, has "chosen not to stay on board" in Representative-elect Roe's office, Davis said.

He said he and his staff decided after he lost the GOP primary to try not to "leave any work undone" for his successor, "so he doesn't have to come in and have old cases to work on."

Davis said he and his staff contacted every open case file, and either resolved pending issues or closed them and advised constituents to reopen their files with Roe, or with U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander or Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans.

Davis said he has not tried to offer any advice to his successor, Dr. Roe.

"He's a smart man," Davis said. "I know he's talking to some of my existing staff about the possibility of staying on."

After what Davis characterized as "a very negative campaign," he noted, "I'm not sure he needs my advice."

Asked about lessons he has learned from his two years in office, Davis said that, "I found out being a congressman is not just about pomp and circumstance, like you see on TV shows.

"I took the job very seriously, worked 14- to 16-hour days, and came home every weekend," to stay in touch with the district, he said.

"Joyce traveled with me," he said. "We're very close," and she enjoyed being part of Bible studies with congressional spouses while in Washington.

"I've been honored" to serve, he said. "I've been blessed, to be able to do what I've done, and we'll see what happens in the future."

Davis said he now plans to return full-time to the health care business he owns, Shared Health Services. The company provides wound care centers and hyperbaric wound care services to hospitals in the region.

He also wants to spend more time with his family.

His daughter, Rachel, started a new job as a licensed practical nurse last week, while she continues to work on her Registered Nurse degree.

His son Matthew is in a program at the Tennessee Technology Center in Elizabethton, training to be a millwright.

Asked if there are things he would do differently if he had the opportunity, Davis said, "In the primary, I was talking primarily to Republicans, as you would think." But he said he continues to believe there was "a concerted effort by Democrats crossing over into the Republican primary" to try to unseat him.

"I wish I had paid more attention to that, and gotten more Republicans out to the polls," he said. "That's what swayed the outcome."

Davis said two different polling companies put him 13 points ahead "among Republicans" the week before the primary. The same companies had similar results just before the 2006 election, he said.

This time the polls were wrong, and Davis thinks they were wrong at least in part because of Democrats who voted in the GOP primary.

"A lot of it goes back to the income tax," he said. Davis said some "moderate Republicans" may still hold a grudge against him for repeatedly opposing a state income tax on wages and salaries while he was in the Tennessee legislature.

Davis hired a Virginia attorney with top connections in the Republican party immediately after the election, but then did not pursue a challenge to the outcome of the primary.

Asked if he might consider another try at elective office, Davis said, "It's too early to tell."