Austin Davis

Growing up in the Mon Valley in western Pennsylvania – a historic industrial center just south of the City of Pittsburgh – Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis saw the struggles of working families firsthand. He watched his mom – a hairdresser in McKeesport for more than 40 years – juggle raising a family with putting food on the table. He watched his dad work hard every day as a union bus driver.

After an incident of gun violence occurred in his neighborhood, Lieutenant Governor Davis knew from an early age he wanted to dedicate his life and career to public service. Throughout his career, he has fought for economic equality, worked to lift people out of poverty, secure fair funding for education, and has been committed to bettering the lives of people in every Pennsylvania community.

A first-generation college graduate, he began pursuing a career in public service after earning a political science degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Austin started his career in Allegheny County government, spearheading the county’s vision and transition teams and worked to create the county’s first violence prevention office. By age 21, the Tribune-Review called him “a veteran at the politics of helping others.”

In 2018, Lieutenant Governor Davis successfully ran for the state House of Representatives. He became the first western Pennsylvania African-American to serve as state representative outside the City of Pittsburgh, eventually being elected by his legislative colleagues as the leader of the Allegheny County House Democratic Delegation.

In 2022, he successfully ran for and won the nomination for lieutenant governor alongside then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro, winning all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in a three-way primary. He was subsequently elected as Pennsylvania’s 35th and first African-American lieutenant governor. In addition, he is our nation’s youngest sitting lieutenant governor.