The Harvard Club of Northeast Ohio invites you to a
Happy Hour featuring Austin N. Davis JD '19, Cleveland City Councilman
Join your fellow alumni for a casual gathering celebrating the start of summer.
Meet new members of our alumni community, reconnect with old friends, and hear from Cleveland's own Austin N. Davis JD '19, Councilman for Ward 7, who will share thoughts on his Harvard experience, his career, and his vision for Cleveland's future.
Credit: Austin N. Davis
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Austin N. Davis is the member of Cleveland City Council for Ward 7, representing Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Tremont, the Flats, and the downtown lakefront. He comes from a blue-collar, union family and attended St. Ignatius High School before going on to college on a Pell Grant.
Life took an unexpected turn at age 20 when Austin lost both of his legs in a train accident. Austin learned how to walk again while still graduating on time from Middlebury College. He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard Law School (JD '19) and is one of a very small number of people in the world who use two full prosthetics and maintain a professional career.
After practicing law at BakerHostetler and maintaining a robust pro-bono immigration practice, Austin joined Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb's administration as a lawyer and policy advisor. Austin was instrumental in major wins for everyday Clevelanders: passing landmark slumlord legislation, advancing pay equity initiatives, producing the city's first zoning code update in a century, implementing Cleveland's first tobacco regulations, and securing federal resources to take illegal firearms off the streets.
Elected in November 2025, Austin ran on a platform of urban walkability, traffic calming, an all-of-the-above housing strategy, and high-quality public services. In his first months on City Council, he has championed Cleveland's first regulations on short-term rentals like Airbnbs, locked in support to keep "Pride in the CLE" as monumental as ever, ensured that dozens of homeless people camping in public spaces were provided with housing and wraparound services, and secured funding and staff capacity necessary to quintuple the number of speed tables on residential streets in Ward 7. He was also published in the Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com, making the case for closing Burke airport.
He lives in Tremont with his wife, Anna Mysliwiec MPP '19, and their baby daughter.
