He represented the residents of District E, which includes the entire city limits of Fairbanks and several neighborhoods just outside, from 2009 through 2012.
[1] Joe Paskvan was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he has lived his entire life save for a several year period during law school.
His father, Tom Paskvan, after obtaining benefits through the GI Bill, opened a bar called the Elbow Room on Second Avenue in Fairbanks in 1947.
He worked for the law firm of Rice, Hoppner, Brown, & Brunner until 1986, when he started his own partnership, Paskvan & Ringstad PC.
In the general election, he defeated Cynthia Henry, a gift shop owner who served on both the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly and the University of Alaska Board of Regents.