Austin Davis (politician)
Austin Davis | |
---|---|
File:AustinDavis.jpg
Davis in 2022
|
|
35th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania | |
Assumed office January 17, 2023 |
|
Governor | Josh Shapiro |
Preceded by | John Fetterman |
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 35th district |
|
In office February 5, 2018 – December 7, 2022 |
|
Preceded by | Marc Gergely |
Succeeded by | Matt Gergely |
Personal details | |
Born | Austin Ankarie Davis October 4, 1989 McKeesport, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Blayre Holmes (m. 2017) |
Children | 1 |
Education | University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg (BA) |
Austin Davis (born October 4, 1989) is an American politician who is the 35th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, since 2023. Prior to that, he served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 35th District from 2018 to 2022. He is both the first African-American lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and the youngest person to be elected lieutenant governor in the United States.
Contents
Early life and education
Davis was born October 4, 1989, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He attended McKeesport Area High School, where he founded and served as chairman of the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council under then McKeesport, Pennsylvania mayor James Brewster.[1]
After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, where he earned a BA in political science in 2012.[2][3]
Career
While in college, Austin was hired as a legislative intern by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In an February 2011 article on Black History Month, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review highlighted him as "a veteran at the politics of helping others."[4]
Davis previously served as executive assistant to Allegheny County executive Rich Fitzgerald. In 2014, Davis became the youngest and the first black vice chair at the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.[5]
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Davis ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 35th district in a 2018 special election.[6][7] Davis defeated Republican candidate Fawn Walker-Montgomery with over 73% of the vote and became the first African American to serve as State Representative for the district.[8]
Committee assignments
(2021–2022)
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
Election
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
On December 14, 2021, it was reported that Davis would enter the 2022 race for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, after being selected by presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro to be his running mate.[10] 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 Republican ticket of Doug Mastriano and Carrie DelRosso in the general election.[11] Davis became the first African American to be elected lieutenant governor and the first millennial to win statewide office in Pennsylvania.[12]
Tenure
Upon his swearing in at age 33, Davis became the youngest lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania history.[13] He is also the youngest current lieutenant governor in the United States.[14]
Personal life
Davis met his wife, Blayre Holmes, at the August Wilson Center in 2012. The two were married on September 1, 2017. They live in his lifelong hometown of McKeesport, Pennsylvania.[citation needed] The couple had their first child, a daughter, in September of 2023.[15]
Davis has served on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh,[16] The Consortium for Public Education, Communities in Schools of Pittsburgh,[17] Auberle, Adonai Center for Black Males, Small Seeds Development, and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School.[5]
Electoral history
2018 Pennsylvania House of Representatives special election, District 35[18] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Austin Davis | 3,209 | 73.69 | |
Republican | Fawn Walker-Montgomery | 1,129 | 25.92 | |
Write-in | 17 | 0.39 | ||
Total votes | 4,355 | 100.00 |
2018 Pennsylvania House of Representatives election, District 35[19] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Austin Davis | 15,165 | 96.73 | |
Write-in | 513 | 3.27 | ||
Total votes | 15,678 | 100.00 |
2020 Pennsylvania House of Representatives election, District 35[20] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Austin Davis | 21,327 | 92.52 | |
Write-in | 1,725 | 7.48 | ||
Total votes | 23,052 | 100.00 |
2022 Pennsylvania lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary election[21] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Austin Davis | 768,141 | 63.00 | |
Democratic | Brian Sims | 305,959 | 25.09 | |
Democratic | Raymond L. Sosa | 145,228 | 11.91 | |
Total votes | 1,219,328 | 100.00 |
2022 Pennsylvania House of Representatives election, District 35[22] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic | Austin Davis | 15,241 | 65.90 | |
Republican | Don Nevills | 7,817 | 33.80 | |
Write-in | 71 | 0.31 | ||
Total votes | 23,129 | 100.00 |
2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election[23] | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
Democratic |
|
3,031,137 | 56.49 | |
Republican | 2,238,477 | 41.71 | ||
Libertarian |
|
51,611 | 0.96 | |
Green |
|
24,436 | 0.46 | |
Keystone |
|
20,518 | 0.38 | |
Total votes | 5,366,179 | 100.00 |
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis Archived November 9, 2022, at the Wayback Machine official government website
- Austin Davis for Lieutenant Governor campaign website
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Pennsylvania House of Representatives | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 35th district 2018–2022 |
Succeeded by Matt Gergely |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by | Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania 2022 |
Most recent |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by
Kim Ward
Acting |
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania 2023–present |
Incumbent |
- Articles with short description
- Use mdy dates from December 2021
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Use American English from December 2021
- All Wikipedia articles written in American English
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from September 2023
- Webarchive template wayback links
- 1989 births
- 21st-century African-American politicians
- 21st-century American politicians
- African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania
- Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
- Lieutenant Governors of Pennsylvania
- Living people
- People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania
- University of Pittsburgh alumni