Speaking late last month at a Hill District rally, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey claimed to be building “unprecedented unity” in his bid for a second term.
That may be more wishful thinking than reality. Neither Gainey nor his primary election rival, Corey O’Connor, appears to be a surefire winner with the city’s Democrats.
The Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsed O’Connor over Gainey by a mere four-vote margin — arguably not a good look for an incumbent mayor seeking to project an image of strength and solidarity.
The razor-thin margin of the endorsement reflects how conflicted Pittsburghers are, Sam Hens-Greco, the party’s county chairman, told TribLive.
It’s not just the committee that’s split on the candidates.
From City Council to organized labor, from power brokers to everyday voters, the city’s Democrats are divided on who should lead for the next four years.
“There is a lot of tension within the party right now,” Hens-Greco said.
Gainey is facing a well-known, well-funded challenger in O’Connor, a former city councilman and son of the late Mayor Bob O’Connor, who served for eight months in 2006 before dying in office of brain cancer.
Despite going after each other in debates and working hard to detail their differences, both Democratic candidates actually have “fairly progressive” track records and are strong advocates for the city, Hens-Greco said.
As a result, he’s not surprised to see fractures among the electorate.
“It’s not unusual. It’s contentious,” Hens-Greco said. “That is the nature of the Democratic primary in Allegheny County. And I think it is, in some ways, necessary that you have competition within the primaries at times.”
Intra-party squabbling about candidates is nothing new in Pittsburgh. Democrats were torn at the ballot box as recently as 2021 during the last primary for mayor. That year, Gainey played the role of challenger trying to unseat then-incumbent Bill Peduto.
Part of what’s driving the intense struggle between supporters of Gainey and O’Connor is the lack of a truly viable Republican alternative, Hens-Greco said.
“If there’s not going to be a Republican in the race — or not one that’s going to give a real challenge — then the primary is where you’re going to have that competition,” he said.
While there is also a contested GOP primary this year, in a Democratic stronghold like Pittsburgh — a city that hasn’t elected a Republican mayor in nearly a century — it’s almost certain the winner of the Gainey-O’Connor race will be the city’s next leader.
Constituent split
Certain groups in Pittsburgh have panned each candidate for things he or his backers have said or done.
Gainey offended some in the Jewish community, for instance, by co-signing a letter on the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that called for “a ceasefire and an end to this cycle of violence.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh in a statement said it was “devastated” by the letter, which it denounced. The federation said a line in the letter saying it “didn’t have to be this way” appeared to blame Israel and the victims.
The mayor apologized for “mistakes that letter made” during a forum with the federation last month.
Similarly, O’Connor backers made a misstep recently by producing an anti-Gainey flyer that some labeled as racist because it suggested the mayor allowed blight in the city to fester.
O’Connor said he was not involved in creating the mailer, which an independent expenditure organization endorsing him crafted and distributed.
Black Pittsburghers, whom Gainey has described as a critical constituency, are divided, too.
Some question whether Gainey, as the city’s first Black mayor, has done a good job of improving their lives.
Polling
The campaigns have released dueling internal polls, with each side claiming their candidate is ahead.
Gainey’s campaign cited an internal survey it claims gives Gainey a 7-point lead.
“We really think that poll is nonsense,” said Ben Forstate, O’Connor’s campaign manager.
He countered with one that showed O’Connor with a 4-point edge.
“Internal polls are not a great measurement,” warned Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University. “Internal polls can have their thumb on the scale.”
Dagnes called the impact of such polls the “bandwagon effect.” If a campaign can use polling to convince undecided voters their candidate has a major edge, some voters might be inclined to back the person they see as the likely winner.
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But Dagnes questioned how much the average voter would pay attention to such polling, particularly for an off-year local race.
Berwood Yost, who oversees polling at Franklin & Marshall College, said the campaigns may release internal polls and peddle a message of unity in an effort to convince voters there’s a consensus they can rally behind — even when there are sharp divisions and narrow margins.
“It’s an effort to shape the message,” Yost said, calling Gainey’s claims of unity “detached from reality, perhaps.”
“Voters themselves can see how contested this is and all the divisions in endorsements by labor, even the county (Democratic committee) endorsement,” Yost said.
National divide
Pittsburgh’s mayoral primary comes at a time of division within the Democratic Party at a national level.
After decisive losses in November that left Republicans in charge of the White House and both chambers of Congress, party leaders are trying to chart a new path forward and push back on President Donald Trump’s power.
Some Democrats in Washington, D.C., are challenging Trump at every turn with vocal resistance. Others are seeking a more measured response or trying to find common ground with their Republican counterparts.
Gainey and O’Connor have vowed to stand up to Trump policies they believe could hurt Pittsburghers. The candidates have said they would not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gainey has been particularly vocal in rallying against restrictions to gender-affirming health care, potential cuts to Medicaid or Medicare, and threats of closing federal offices in the city.
National politics has seeped into the mayoral campaigns, with Gainey and O’Connor accusing each other of taking money from Trump-supporting Republicans and each claiming he would be better suited to stand up to presidential policies that could hurt the city.
It’s a tactic that is not unique to Pittsburgh, as Democrats across the country try to rally voters against their opponents by tying their rivals, “often in a really tortured and stretched way,” to a president that is largely loathed by Democrats, said Chris Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College.
Democratic voters and leaders across the city are split on whether to take a more progressive or moderate approach, Yost said.
“I do think the 2024 elections created this sort of assessment, as it always does, about which way the losing party needs to go,” Yost said. “What you’re seeing in Pittsburgh is something that’s playing out all over the place.”
A more moderate challenger is looking to oust Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney. Four Democrats are challenging Harrisburg’s mayor in the primary.
“There’s always divisions within parties along ideological lines,” Borick said. “What is new is the intensity of the divide.”
The divideseemsstarkinPittsburgh,whereO’ConnorhasearnedthebackingofamajorityofCityCouncil.
Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview; Bob Charland, D-South Side; and Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, make up a vocal bloc of Gainey critics who have thrown their support behind O’Connor.
Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, and Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, recently got on the O’Connor bandwagon.
Wilson bashed Gainey for an underfunded vehicle fleet, overspending on overtime and a lack of permanent police leadership when he announced his endorsement for O’Connor.
“We need leadership that’s focused, prepared and ready to meet the moment,” Wilson said in a statement. “When asked about real problems, the mayor deflects — accusing Corey O’Connor of being backed by MAGA Republicans. That’s not serious leadership.”
But the mayor still has strong support from council members R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District; Khari Mosley, D-Point Breeze; Deb Gross, D-Highland Park; and Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield.
“In this city, to get anything done, you need strong, committed partners. Time and time again, Mayor Gainey has proven he’s exactly that, a strong partner to City Council, to our neighborhoods and to the people of Pittsburgh,” Lavelle said during the April 28 Hill District rally.
He credited Gainey with moving blighted properties through the city’s long-stalled land bank, helping low-income residents buy houses and funding a program to provide renters with legal assistance.
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A council that largely rubber-stamped nearly every bill with unanimous approval has now become sharply polarized, particularly on a massive zoning reform package championed by Gainey.
What the mayor had hoped would be a hallmark piece of legislation that would spur more affordable housing development has instead become a political flashpoint.
Coghill told TribLive the divisive politicking is making it harder for council to reach compromises on important issues like the proposed zoning changes.
Unions
Union support has been split, too.
The Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council made no endorsement in the mayoral primary; neither candidate secured the required two-thirds of votes from executive board members.
In O’Connor’s corner are Steamfitters Local 449, Teamsters Local 205, Boilermakers 154 and the union representing Pittsburgh’s EMTs and paramedics, among others.
Gainey’s union backers include SEIU, United Steelworkers, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and the union representing the city’s firefighters.
The union representing city police hasn’t endorsed either candidate. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 President Bob Swartzwelder said the union typically refrains from endorsing mayoral candidates because its members have to work with whoever is elected.
The mayor also has the support of U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, one of the most progressive members of Congress, and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, also a progressive.
O’Connor received endorsements from the Young Democrats of Allegheny County and the East End’s 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, as well as longtime state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, and Ricky Burgess, a former council member.
If a significant stream of high-profile endorsements all favor one candidate, the cumulative effect can help build momentum, said Dagnes, the Shippensburg University professor.
But generally, she added, most endorsements don’t have major sway with voters.
“They probably don’t care that much,” Dagnes said, particularly if voters aren’t familiar with the person or entity giving the endorsement.
Dagnes said all the evidence points to a primary marked by strong divisions and vastly different opinions on how the mayor has performed.
“It sounds to me like the incumbent has a group of loyal supporters,” Dagnes said, “and a group of hardened detractors.”