Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena and political newcomer Brittany Bloam are seeking the Democratic nomination for a spot on the November ballot in Pennsylvania’s 45th Legislative District.
The 45th state House District covers part of Allegheny County, including Collier, Kennedy, Neville, Robinson and Stowe townships and the boroughs of Bridgeville, Carnegie, Coraopolis, McKees Rocks and Pennsbury Village. It has been represented by state Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik, D-Kennedy, since 2017. She announced last year that she would retire at the end of her term.
Republican James Julius, an artificial intelligence company founder, is unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. Julius, of McKees Rocks, lost to Kulik in 2024.
Catena, of Carnegie, has served on Allegheny County Council since 2017 and became council president in 2020.
Catena has faced backlash since his campaign sent out a mailer alleging his primary opponent was supported by “an EXTREME LEFT GROUP THAT ADVOCATES FOR TRANSGENDER ATHLETES in our sports.”
On Wednesday, at least seven members of county council issued a joint statement calling for Catena to resign as president and to suspend his state House campaign.
Catena issued an apology over the weekend.
During his time on council, Catena has supported policies including paid sick leave and body-worn police cameras and has advocated for several community projects focused on youth programming.
“I want to take all the experience that I learned from basically municipal government, county government, and bring those together and advocate for the 45th District,” Catena said. “The 45th District needs a lot of physical infrastructure upgrades.”
Catena said he believes the lessons he has learned through his experience will be hard for Bloam to replicate as a newcomer.
He told TribLive on Friday that even after the controversy, he still felt good about his campaign heading into Tuesday.
“I’m giving it 100% each and every day,” Catena said.
Catena’s campaign raised $74,000 from January to March, with $25,000 coming from personal funds. The campaign spent about $28,000 during the first three months of the year, leaving the period with $45,800 in cash on hand, according to state financial records.
A campaign finance report for Bloam was not posted on the Pennsylvania Department of State website as of Friday.
So far this year, Julius’ campaign has raised $3,144 and spent just over $1,325, according to state financial records.
Bloam, a Robinson native, built her campaign platform around affordability, tackling rising costs, increasing access to childcare, and safeguarding women’s abortion rights and people’s right to vote through mail-in ballots.
After the mailer went out, Bloam released a statement comparing Catena’s campaign tactics to “MAGA extremists.”
Unlike her opponent, this is Bloam’s first time seeking political office. Bloam told TribLive on Friday that her experience in law will aid her in the role.
“I have spent the last 15 years working with people that I don’t necessarily agree with to solve problems and to get things done and especially with a (slim) Democratic majority in the House, with (a) currently Republican-controlled Senate, I think it’s important that we can form relationships,” Bloam said.
Currently, there are 102 Democrats in the House, 99 Republicans and two vacancies. The two vacant seats are in districts that have been represented by Republicans since the 1990s. A special election to file a vacant York County seat is scheduled for Tuesday, while the other vacancy — in Butler County’s 12th District — will remain until after an Aug. 18 special election.
Bloam, the mother of 5- and 8-year-old daughters, said she believes it is important to have more mothers working in the legislature.
“Working families are facing so many things from so many different directions,” Bloam said. “The cost of childcare and the cost of everything is going up all across the board, and I think sometimes that those very basic things get lost in the discussion,” Bloam said.