Austin Davis (born October 4, 1989) is an American politician who is the lieutenant governor-elect of Pennsylvania. Prior to that, he served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 35th District from 2018 to 2022.

Early life

While in high school, Davis founded and served as Chairman of the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council under then McKeesport Mayor, James Brewster. After graduating from

McKeesport Area High School McKeesport Area High School is a public high school located in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, United States. The school, which is located at 1960 Eden Park Boulevard, serves students from Dravosburg, McKeesport, South Versailles, Versailles, and Whi ...

, he attended the

University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg (Pitt-Greensburg or UPG) is a state-related liberal arts college in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It is a baccalaureate degree-granting regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Opened in 1963, Pitt ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in Political Science in 2012.

Political career

While in college, Austin was hired as a Legislative Intern by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. At the age of 21, the Tribune Review called him "a veteran at the politics of helping others." Davis previously served as executive assistant to Allegheny County Executive

Rich Fitzgerald Rich Fitzgerald (born May 8, 1959) is an American elected official who serves as the 3rd County Executive of Allegheny County. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a member oAllegheny County Councilfrom 2000 until 2011 as t ...

. In 2014, Davis became the youngest and the first black vice chair at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Davis ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 35th district in a 2018 special election. Davis defeated

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

candidate Fawn Walker-Montgomery with over 73% of the vote and became the first African American to serve as State Representative for the district.

Lieutenant Governor campaign

On December 14, 2021, it was reported that Davis would enter the 2022 race for

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently o ...

, after being selected by presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee

Josh Shapiro Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the Pennsylvania Attorney General since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the governor-elect of Pennsylvania. Raised in Montgomery ...

to be his running mate. Pennsylvania law requires that a lieutenant gubernatorial candidate must run independent of the gubernatorial candidate in the primary. On November 8, 2022, Shapiro and Davis handily defeated the

ticket of Doug Mastriano and

Carrie DelRosso Carrie A. Lewis DelRosso (born ) is an American politician and businesswoman who served one term as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 33rd district from 2021 to 2022. She was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Gove ...

in the general election. Davis became the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

to be elected lieutenant governor and the first

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s ...

to win statewide office in Pennsylvania.

Committee Assignments

* Appropriations * Consumer Affairs * Insurance * Transportation

Personal life

Davis met his wife, Blayre Holmes, at the August Wilson Center in 2012. The two were married September 1, 2017. They live in his lifelong hometown of McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Davis has served on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh, The Consortium for Public Education, Communities in Schools of Pittsburgh, Auberle, Adonai Center for Black Males, Small Seeds Development, and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Austin 1989 births 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American politicians African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governors of Pennsylvania Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh alumni