Traci Davidson
| Traci Davidson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Traci Marie Davidson June 6, 1977 Fort Wayne, Indiana |
| Other names | Traci Passalt |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Employer | WMRI-FTV |
| Spouse | Rachael Passalt (m. 1998) |
| Parents | Marshall Davidson (father) |
| Relatives | Amanda Davidson (sister) Frank Davidson (brother) |
Traci Marie Davidson (born June 6, 1977 in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is a television news presenter based in Fort Wayne. She currently works for Northeast Indiana's ABC owned-and-operated station WMRI-FTV (the station is known locally as "9abc" and previoulsy the flagship station of ATE Media Corporation). Davidson is best known for being the eldest daughter of long-time WMRI anchorman Marshall Davidson and the wife of Vote for the Girls moderator Rachael Passalt.
Early Life
Traci Davidson was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana to long time anchorman Marshall Davidson and Janet Hamilton. Davidson is the oldest of three children and has a sister Amanda (1981-2014) and a brother Frank (b. 1987). Davidson graduated from Bishop Dwenger High School in 1995.
Career
Davidson began her career at NBC affiliate WXDS in Duluth, Minnesota in 2000 after graduating from the University of Minnesota.
Davidson left WXDS to Minneapolis Fox affiliate KFMN in 2003 and remained weekend evening anchor until 2009.
In 2009, Traci came to WMRI, Davidson's hometown ABC affiliate, in 2011. She was teamed with her brother, Frank, at 6 and 11 p.m. for four years and with Pete Ward at 4 p.m. until her brother left for rival CBS affiliate WTOR in 2015.
Unlike her father did with Patricia Edwards nearly 30 years earlier, the anchor team of Frank Davidson and Traci Davidson, chief meteorologist at the time Cathryn Swaringen and current sports director Ron McManara did not perform well as WMRI went from Northeast Indiana's top television news program in the local Nielsen ratings, when WTOR overtook WMRI in May 2010. At that point, WMRI's 56-year streak as the leading station in Fort Wayne came to an end.
Her brother, Frank, left WMRI for CBS affiliate WTOR, in August 2015 [1] but did not appear on the CBS affiliate until January 4, 2016 since he was on a no-complete clause that expired on that date. Traci Davidson's co-anchor since 2016 is long-time WMRI Pete Ward.
On November 24, 2020, Rachael Passalt revealed on The Karly Jameson Show that Traci will join Vote for the Girls for its 13th season in 2022 and inherit Passalt's DWTS moderator win from 2019. As a result of her commitments, she will anchor WMRI's Noon and 4 PM newscasts while Ava Dowling will succeed Passalt.
Personal life
In 1996, while attending University of Minnesota, Davidson began dating Raymond Passalt (now Rachael Passalt). Passalt proposed to Traci at Passalt's high school prom her junior year and were married in 1998. [2] The couple separated for the first time in 2005 and reconciled in 2006 then separated again in 2013 and reconciled again before Passalt began undergoing a physical and social gender transition from male to female, which was confirmed in September 2014 by Davidson's father-in-law and her wife[2] who then identified Passalt's preferred name as Rachael Passalt and posted on Facebook, "I almost feel like saying I lost a son, but gained a daughter after my son Raymond Passalt came out and just reconciled with his wife, Traci."[3] Vote for the Girls U.S./UK founder and creator Ava Zinn was among other colleagues were quick to offer praise and support for the announcement.[4] Passalt's legal transition began on December 1, 2014 (coincidentally ten years after Ava Zinn began her own transition), when Passalt began requesting an Indiana court to grant her request for a gender and name change that was eventually granted in April 2015. Rachael chose the name "Rachael Valerie Passalt" in honor of Rachael O'Connor and Valerie Rockey[3], both previously were supported by the Vote for the Girls franchise in 2014 (O'Connor was supported by the UK Vote for the Girls for the third series of the British adaptation of The Voice and Rockey was supported by the U.S. Vote for the Girls for the eleventh season of the American adaptation of So You Think You Can Dance).[5]
References
- ↑ "Davidson hiring puts other WTOR anchors in hot seat". August 8, 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "I prefer her as a woman: Traci Davidson speaks out about her husband's sex change as the pair discuss baby plans | NewsCenter 9 (WMRI-FTV)". ATE Media Corp.. September 13, 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://www.facebook.com/julia.passalt/posts/308148202698250
- ↑ "Julia Passalt's son Raymond's Gender Transition Announcement". September 1, 2014.
- ↑ ??
External links
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