Glenn R. Davis, Republican congressman from Wisconsin, was born on a farm in Vernon Township, Waukesha County, the son of Charles W. and Jennie Wachendorf Davis. He received his B.A. in education at Platteville State Teachers College in 1934, and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1940. Davis married Waukesha dentist Kathryn McFarlane in 1942; they have five children.
In 1940 Davis was elected State assemblyman from the First District of Waukesha County, but he relinquished his seat two years later when he entered naval service. In an April 1947 special election, Davis was elected to the U.S. Congress from Wisconsin's Second District and remained in the House of Representatives until his unsuccessful bid for the Senate in 1956. During this period Davis was a member of the Appropriations and Veterans Affairs committees. From 1957 to 1965 Davis was a partner in the Waukesha law firm of Love, Davis, and McGraw, and took an active role in community affairs. In 1957 he again ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in a special election.
In 1965 Davis returned to Congress as representative from the newly-created Ninth District and was assigned to committees on Appropriations, Public Works, Defense, and Military Construction. He served on the Joint Committee on Budget Control, and cosponsored the Budget Control Act of 1974. A loyal Republican, Davis supported Richard Nixon throughout the Watergate affair. Davis resigned from Congress in 1974 following his defeat in the Republican primary.
