In a Mayoral race destined to be historic regardless of the victor, the City of Pittsburgh elected State Representative Ed Gainey, who defeated Republican challenger Tony Moreno to become the first elected Black Mayor of the City.
As the unofficial vote tally reached 91 percent at close to 11 pm, Moreno conceded the election with 18,874 votes to Gainey’s 45,133, admitting a loss of his chance to become Pittsburgh’s first Republican Mayor in nearly a century.
Gainey, a native-born Pittsburgher whose campaign emphasized building unity among the 90 diverse neighborhoods of the city, laid out plans connecting public safety with public health, while contending that all City residents want the same things.
“We can uplift the City of Pittsburgh for everyone if we start with those who have been left behind,” he says on his campaign website. Noting the historical racial divisions among Pittsburghers, Gainey says “we all share the same vision for our families, our children and our neighborhoods,” and promises to help make that vision a reality.
“This victory isn’t just my victory, it’s a Pittsburgh victory,” Gainey said in a Tweet following his win. “This City never gave up on me, no matter how tough it got, and I will always believe in Pittsburgh.”
Incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto, who lost in a Primary Election bid to Gainey, congratulated him on his victory shortly after CNN projected Gainey as the winner.
“I look forward to working with you and your team on a progressive transition for the betterment of all of Pittsburgh,” Peduto Tweeted. “Here’s to the next chapter. Do great things!”
Gainey will begin his term with a City Council composed of incumbents, as three of the four seats up for election showed no opposition for candidates Teresa Kail-Smith in District 2, Daniel Lavelle in District 6, and Erika Strassberger in District 8. In District 4, incumbent Anthony Coghill held a 5050-2270 lead over challenger Connor T. Mulvaney with nearly 90 percent of votes counted. The remaining Council Members in odd-numbered districts will not face voters again until 2023.
The Pittsburgh Public School Board of Directors will be seeing some new faces after a rough year of battling Covidprotocols, financial woes, and the dismissal of a Superintendent whose contract had just been renewed. Board President Sylvia Wilson, who represents District 1, and Sala Udin, representing District 3, faced only write-in challenges for their seats and appear to have been have successful in retaining them. District 5 incumbent Terry Kennedy and District 9 incumbent Veronica Edwards, who were defeated in their Primary campaigns, chose to run on the Republican ticket against their Democratic challengers. Tracey Reed maintained her Primary advantage in the General Election, defeating Kennedy 5117-2073, while Gene Walker led Edwards 5197-2484 with 97.44 percent of votes counted. In District 7, Jamie Piotrowski was unopposed and will take over the seat from incumbent Cynthia Falls, who did not run for another term.
On Allegheny County Council, incumbents Anita Prizio of District 3, Patrick Catena of District 4 and Bob Macey of District 9 retained their seats, while Jack Betkowski defeated opponent Joe Wise by less than 1000 votes to gain the District 1 seat currently held by incumbent Tom Baker, and Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis defeated Eric Casteel for the District 8 seat currently held by Paul Zavarella.
The County Sheriff post, being vacated by the retirement of current Sheriff William Mullen, will be taken by his Chief Deputy, Kevin Kraus, who faced only token write-in opposition after the popular Mullen endorsed him for the position.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas will see ten new judges take the bench, the majority of whom ran on a straight Democratic ticket. Lisa Middleman, Sabrina Korbel and Bruce Beemer were successful in running on both sides of the ticket, while Nicola Henry-Taylor, Tiffany Sizemore, Elliot Howsie, Wrenna Watson, County Controller Chelsa Wagner, Tom Caulfield and Jessel Costa won votes with only a “D” by their name. Candidates on the Republican slate Anthony DeLuca, Joseph Patrick Murphy, Mark Patrick Flaherty, Bill Caye, Daniel Konieczka, Jr., Chuck Porter and Rick Hosking showed strongly, as did Green Party candidate Richard Weiss, but were unable to garner sufficient votes in the 18-candidate race.
In statewide judicial races, Allegheny County favored Democrats. Maria McLaughlin garnered about 80,000 more votes for a vacant seat on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court than her opponent, Kevin Brobson. For the Superior Court, which handles criminal and civil suits, Timika Lane held a 50,000–vote lead over Republican Megan Sulllivan, while candidates Lori Dumas and David Spurgeon both held similar margins leading the Republicans in the contest, Stacey Lee Wallace and Drew Compton. Their races remain undecided pending vote tallies statewide.
County voters also appear to have supported retaining Judges already seated. John T. Bowes, Mary Jane Bender, Anne E. Covey, Renee Cohn Jubelirer, Alexander P. Bicket and Randall B. Todd all showed a positive result on the question of whether they should retain their seats from 97.3 percent of votes tallied.
All results cited in this report are pending certification.
Photo courtesy of Ed Gainey for Mayor
Story courtesy of Nancy Hart