Corey O’Connor’s bid to be the next mayor of Pittsburgh has won the endorsement of one of Pittsburgh’s most storied progressive groups, the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club.
O’Connor bested Mayor Ed Gainey, who won the group’s backing in his initial 2021 run for mayor, after a day-long event in which club members heard from both hopefuls, and a slew of other candidates.
The club, which is not part of the Democratic Party apparatus, nevertheless includes a range of longtime party activists and supervoters from the city’s politically potent East End.
“Voters pay attention to this club’s endorsement because they understand it doesn’t come from a backroom deal but through an open vote by a membership that includes many of the most knowledgeable and civically engaged people in Pittsburgh,” said club president Mac Booker in a statement announcing the endorsements.
The results weren’t publicly released until after midnight: Voting didn’t close until 10 p.m. because of the length of time it took for the club to hear from more than 20 candidates for the Court of Common Pleas. But there were ominous signs for Gainey in a question-and-answer session with members earlier in the day.
“Your campaign has placed significant focus on your opponent’s donors, including criticism of certain developers who are Jewish,” one question began, accusing Gainey of “labeling them as greedy [which] echoes harmful, antisemitic stereotypes that have historically been used to marginalize and scapegoat Jewish communities.” Gainey was asked to give “a yes or no answer” about whether he would “commit to avoiding rhetoric that reinforces these harmful tropes.”
“Wow,” said Gainey. “Wow, a yes or no answer. Wow.”
Gainey then said that he “would never let some antisemitic [statement] come out of my mouth to harm the Jewish community. … Nowhere in my career, nowhere in my personal life have I ever done that to harm anybody.”
But Gainey, who has put housing affordability and a call for economic justice at the heart of his campaign, made no apologies for criticizing developers who opposed economic development policies he said were necessary for a more equitable future. Those include an “inclusionary zoning” proposal that requires a portion of new residential developments to set aside some housing units as affordable to lower-income people.
If developers were “only concerned about your own pockets and not about repopulating this city,” he said, “I will continue to say that I will stand up to greedy developers to make sure that we have a city for all.”
O’Connor faced a friendlier round of questioning. He was asked to respond to attacks from Gainey allies, and a handful of left-leaning national media sources, that he had received campaign contributions from Trump supporters. O’Connor called the accusation “a joke” and said the same donors had given to Democratic luminaries like Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Senator Bob Casey — and Gainey himself. “That MAGA question is ridiculous,” he said. “It shows that they are desperate and don’t want to talk about issues that actually affect residents.”
In their own remarks, both Gainey and O’Connor largely reprised their stump speeches. Gainey’s discussed his success at building capacity at the city’s previously moribund Land Bank, and lower homicide rates since his first year of office, especially among young people; O’Connor blasted Gainey for not taking fuller advantage of federal COVID aid and masking the city’s looming budget problems.
The 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club, whose membership is drawn from the liberal stronghold of Pittsburgh’s East End, has traditionally been a leading voice of leftist politics in Pittsburgh. In past years, its members were early adopters of progressive candidates like Summer Lee, a state House member who went on to Congress, and its members endorsed Gainey during his 2021 run against then-Mayor Bill Peduto.
But the war in Gaza has complicated Democratic politics and brought concerns over antisemitism in the U.S. to the fore. Such matters have been especially pressing in places like the 14th Ward, which includes the Jewish enclave of Squirrel Hill. Last year, the Club rejected Lee’s bid for reelection in favor of challenger Bhavini Patel.
The endorsement racks up another win for O’Connor, who narrowly won the backing of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee a month ago. The club and the committee’s votes do not necessarily coincide, and indeed often run counter to each other.
The club also weighed in on a number of other choices that will be before voters in the May 20 primary. It recommended “yes” votes on three ballot questions before city voters — one barring the privatization of the city’s water and sewer system, and two limiting the power of future ballot questions. City Council drafted the latter two questions after pro-Palestinian activists sought to put forth a ballot question that would limit the city’s ability to do business with contractors that had ties to Israel.
The Club’s endorsements in other races are as follows:
City Counsel Dist. 8
Erika Strassburger
School Board Dist. 1
Tawana Cook Purnell
School Board Dist. 5
Tracey Reed
Allegheny County Sheriff
Kevin Kraus
Pennsylvania Superior Court
Brandon Neuman
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
Stella Tsai
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas
(listed in the order they will appear on the primary ballot)
Amanda Green-Hawkins
Bryan Neft
Quita Bridges
Alyssa Cowan
Lauren Leiggi
Jamie Hickton
Ilan Zur
Anthony DeLuca
