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.
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 in 2021
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]
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.
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] In 2024, Davis was chosen as the chair of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association.[15]
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 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.[16] The couple had their first child, a daughter, in September of 2023.[17]
Davis has served on the board of directors of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh,[18] The Consortium for Public Education, Communities in Schools of Pittsburgh,[19] Auberle, Adonai Center for Black Males, Small Seeds Development, and the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School.[5]
^"Past Alumnus of Distinction Awardees". Alumnus of Distinction Award. Greensburg, PA: University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
^"Member Biography, Austin Davis". Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
Italics indicate next-in-line of succession for states and territories without a directly elected lieutenant governor or whose lieutenant governor office is vacant:
