Austin Quinn-Davidson (born October 29, 1979) is an American politician and attorney who served as the acting mayor of

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

after the resignation of

Ethan Berkowitz Ethan Avram Berkowitz (born February 4, 1962) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician from Alaska. From 1997 to 2007 he was the Alaska State Representative for District 26, serving as the Democratic Party Minority Leader from 1999 t ...

in October 2020 until the inauguration of

Dave Bronson David Bronson (born June 26, 1958) is an American politician, pilot, and retired military officer who is the 9th and current mayor of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska. Early life and education Bronson was born in Superior, Wisconsin. He ...

in July 2021. Quinn-Davidson began serving on the

Anchorage Assembly The Anchorage Assembly is the governing body of Anchorage, Alaska. The Assembly has eleven members elected to three-year terms from six districts. It is responsible for creating and approving the city's annual budget, appropriating municipal fund ...

in 2018.

Early life and education

Quinn-Davidson was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in environmental studies from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

in 2001 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from

UC Davis School of Law The University of California, Davis School of Law (Martin Luther King Jr. Hall), referred to as UC Davis School of Law and commonly known as King Hall, is the professional graduate law school of the University of California, Davis. The school rec ...

in 2007.

Career

Prior to serving as a member of the Assembly, Quinn-Davidson was a member of the Anchorage Budget Advisory and Women's Commissions. At the time of her election to the Assembly in 2018, Quinn-Davidson served as the Legal Affairs & Land Transactions Director at Great Land Trust, a non-profit organization based in

Southcentral Alaska Southcentral Alaska (russian: Юго-Центральная Аляска) is the portion of the U.S. state of Alaska consisting of the shorelines and uplands of the central Gulf of Alaska. Most of the population of the state lives in this regio ...

. While Assembly seats are nonpartisan, Quinn-Davidson has been referred to as a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

Mayor of Anchorage

In October 2020, incumbent mayor

announced that he had conducted an inappropriate texting relationship with a local television reporter. Berkowitz then resigned from office, effective October 23. Upon the announcement, the Anchorage Assembly was restructured. Quinn-Davidson, who had been serving as vice chair, was selected to serve as chair, placing her first in the mayoral line of succession. When Quinn-Davidson assumed office, she became the first woman and openly-gay person to serve as mayor of

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. She chose not to run for election to a full term as mayor in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn-Davidson, Austin 1979 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Alaska Independents Lawyers from Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage Assembly members Lesbian politicians LGBT people from Alaska LGBT mayors of places in the United States Living people Mayors of Anchorage, Alaska Politicians from Sacramento, California UC Davis School of Law alumni University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Women mayors of places in Alaska 21st-century American LGBT people