Davis was a member of the Students for a Democratic Society and an antiwar activist in the time leading up to the 1968 DNC and the subsequent trial. He later became a follower of of Guru Maharaj Ji (also known as Prem Rawat) and his "Divine Light Mission," most notably speaking at the organisation's "Millennium '73" event. In more recent years, he has gone into business consulting, and he appeared at the 1996 Democratic National Convention — its first return to Chicago since 1968 — to speak alongside Tom Hayden about politics and the idea of forming a progressive "counterbalance" to the rising religious right wing.