Ann Davison

Ann Davison is an American attorney who served as Seattle City Attorney from 2022 to 2026. She was elected to the nonpartisan office in 2021 as a Republican and is the first woman to hold the position. She lost her bid for re-election in 2025.

Early life and education Before moving to Seattle, Davison worked as a caseworker at the United States House of Representatives in Washington D.C. In 1996, she moved from her home state of Texas to Seattle where she worked at the front desk for the Seattle SuperSonics until 2001. She then graduated from law school and began practicing law in 2005, working as a law clerk in Salem, Oregon and in private practice. Davison also taught international business law at the University of Washington.

Previous political campaigns Seattle City Council In 2019, Davison challenged Debora Juarez, an incumbent member of the Seattle City Council, with four other challengers. In the August primary, Juarez came in first, with 45.1% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with Davison, who earned 26.71%. She and Jaurez sparred on homelessness, with Juarez focusing on increasing funding and affordable housing, while Davison focused on housing up to 2,000 homeless people into abandoned warehouses while not increasing funding for homelessness services.

In the general election, Juarez defeated Davison, 60.59% to 39.05%.

Washington Lieutenant Governor In 2020, Davison left the Democratic Party and announced her campaign for lieutenant governor of Washington, running as a Republican.

Davison finished third in the August primary with 12% of the vote, finishing behind Democrats Congressman Denny Heck and state Senator Marko Liias but ahead of four other Republican candidates.

Davison later confirmed she voted for Democrat Joe Biden for president that same year. Davison criticized Holmes for being too lenient on low-level crimes and allowing too many repeat offenders to cycle through the system, while Thomas-Kennedy criticized him for being too aggressive against shoplifters and other misdemeanor defendants. In the August primary, Thomas-Kennedy came in first, with 36.39%, and advanced to the general with Davison, who earned 32.72% of the vote.

In the general election Davison focused on enforcing existing laws, while Thomas-Kennedy argued for ending traditional prosecutions of misdemeanors. Davison played down her Republican party affiliation in the overwhelmingly Democratic city, and focused on Thomas-Kennedy support for the abolition of police. Thomas-Kennedy received the support of many labor unions and Democratic politicians during the campaign while Davison received support from three former governors of Washington, Democrats Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke, and Republican Dan Evans as well as The Seattle Times newspaper.

2025 reelection In January 2025, Davison announced she would run for re-election. She drew three challengers for the August primary; former Federal and Seattle prosecutor Erika Evans, public defender Nathan Rouse, and employment lawyer Rory O'Sullivan. On July 10 she was endorsed by the Seattle Times. In the August primary, Davison came in a distant second, with 33.41% of the vote, and advanced to the general election with Evans, who came in first with 55.83%. In the November 4, 2025 general election Davison would be ousted by Evans after only winning close to 33% of the vote.

Tenure Davison is the first female city attorney since the office was created in 1875. In a review of cases, Davison stated she would decline to prosecute nearly 2,000 misdemeanor cases, and would prioritize "crimes against persons."

In May 2023, Davison announced that she would end the city's participation in Community Court, a program created to address racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system and divert individuals from criminal charges. She cited data as her reason to end participation, saying that 52% of people who participating in Community Court committed crime after participating in the program. The program is similar to Community Court that she ended participation in. The office then filed hundreds of affidavits of prejudice to stop Judge Pooja Vaddadi, who was elected the year prior, from hearing criminal cases. Vaddadi was reassigned to traffic and civil cases due to the block by Davison's office. In February 2025, a King County Superior Court judge dismissed the ACLU's case, and Davison's office stated they would end blocking Vaddadi from hearing cases.

In August 2024, Davison, along with Councilmembers Cathy Moore and Robert Kettle, announced legislation to create two exclusionary zones, a Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) and Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) zones. Although there was a large and fierce public opposition to the zones, the SODA and SOAP zones passed the city council 8-1.