Updated at 1:54pm
A historic election result for Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh came quick and early Tuesday as Democratic State Representative Ed Gainey bested Republican retired police officer Tony Moreno to become Pittsburgh’s first black mayor. With 96% of precincts reporting, Gainey led Moreno 70% to 28%. Moreno had hoped to make history himself by becoming Pittsburgh’s first Republican mayor since the 1930s. However, Moreno fell short of even reaching the Republican high water mark in the modern era of 35% of the vote, achieved in 2007 by Republican mayoral candidate Mark DeSantis.
Mayor-Elect Gainey ran on a campaign of building an inclusive Pittsburgh for everyone, including the LGBTQ Community. “I want to build a city for everybody. I know what it feels like to be skipped over. I’m not skipping nobody”, Gainey told QBurgh in February while campaigning in the primary against Mayor Bill Peduto. Gainey will be sworn in as the 61st Mayor of Pittsburgh in January.
Judicial Reform Candidates Sweep Common Pleas
All ten of the Democratic and reform-minded judicial candidates swept the ten open Allegheny County Court of Common Please Judge positions up for grabs Tuesday. The top four candidates were all black led by Nicola Henry-Taylor, the director of diversity and inclusion at Duquesne University School of Law. The other nine were community member Tiffany Sizemore, Elliot Howsie, Wrenna Watson, Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, Lisa Middleman, Sabrina Korbel, Tom Caulfield, Bruce Beemer, and Jessel Costa.
Other results
Republican Kevin Brobson edged past Democrat Maria McLaughlin for a spot on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In Erie, Democrat Tyler Titus has conceded to Republican Brenton Davis for Erie County Excutive. The race was closer than election forecaster predicted with Titus trailing by just a few thousand votes. Titus said in a statement, “I hope queer, trans, and non-binary youth who are unsure of their place in this world look to this campaign, see themselves in government and leadership, and believe tomorrow will be better than yesterday.”