 He was also elected for Lagan Valley at the Northern Ireland Forum election in 1996 (with Jeffrey Donaldson and David Campbell), and narrowly held this seat at the 1998 Assembly election.During the course of the Assembly, he became UUP chief whip.Lagan Valley UUP controversially did not select Davis as a candidate for the 2003 Assembly election, so he resigned and stood instead as an independent Unionist.