An unprecedented political comeback. A mayor on his way out after one historic term. Government inaction in Washington and Harrisburg. A political rebuilding effort.
Here’s a look at some of the year’s biggest political stories from Western Pennsylvania to Washington:
Trump returns
In a political comeback like none other in American history, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president in January after four years out of office. He overcame impeachments, indictments and a pair of assassination attempts — one of them at a campaign rally in Butler County — to return to the White House.
Since returning, he has reversed many of the policies of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, and dramatically reshaped the federal government while working feverishly to carry out his sweeping agenda. This has included reducing the size of the federal workforce, imposing new tariffs on many foreign imports, increasing immigration enforcement, and getting his broad tax and spending bill through Congress.
During his first year back in office, Trump also dealt with the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, complications in trying to broker peace in Israel and Ukraine, and controversy over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
About 36% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing, according to a Gallup poll released Dec. 22. That’s down from 47% last January.
One and done
Four years ago, Ed Gainey defeated incumbent Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in the Democratic primary and then cruised to victory in the November election to become Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor.
Gainey, of Lincoln-Lemington, vowed to shake up the status quo in city government, but voters decided this year not to give him a second term.
Gainey faced many challenges during his tenure, including the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge when he was only a few weeks into office, the end of the covid-19 pandemic and its lingering impacts, an affordable housing crisis, budgetary constraints and other problems inherited from previous administrations — and some he created on his own.
Among successes, Gainey has highlighted the city’s decreasing homicide rate, a $600 million Downtown revitalization plan and the city’s winning bid to host the NFL Draft next year.
Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor will be sworn into office Monday.
Shut it down
Partisan divisions in Washington helped fuel a 43-day federal government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.
The shutdown halted or disrupted many government services and resulted in nearly 1 million federal employees being furloughed. Many more federal employees continued working without pay during the shutdown, which disrupted programs like food assistance, housing loans and environmental inspections, and impacted small businesses, preschools, air travel, national parks, scientific research and other services.
Before the shutdown ended Nov. 12, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the stoppage could wind up costing the U.S. economy $7 billion to $14 billion of gross domestic product that would never be recovered.
Budget impasse
Lawmakers in Harrisburg again failed to pass a state budget on time.
While not the longest in state history, the budget impasse dragged on for 135 days — ending on the same day the federal government shutdown did. It resulted in billions of dollars in missed payments to public schools, counties, transit agencies and other organizations that provide essential services.
Many organizations were forced to borrow money to stay afloat during the impasse.
The Republican-controlled state Senate and the Democratic-controlled state House passed a $50.1 billion budget on Nov. 12, more than four months after the fiscal year began July 1. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat from Montgomery County, signed the budget into law the same day.
Lawmakers have missed their mandated budget deadline in 14 of the past 22 years, including each of the past four years.
Democrats rebound
After taking their lumps in high-stakes election races in 2024, punctuated by Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris, Democrats rebounded to post strong showings in November’s elections.
Pennsylvanians voted to retain three Democratic justices on the state Supreme Court, a Democratic Superior Court judge and a Democratic Commonwealth Court judge. Democrats also won contested races for Superior and Commonwealth courts.
In Allegheny County, local candidates running only as Republicans won just 15 municipal races. In Westmoreland County, where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly 44,000, the three Democratic Supreme Court justices were all retained with about 53% of the vote.