Whatever may be happening at the national level, progressives in Pittsburgh are undeterred. The local Democratic Party has shored up and built on its base. Prominent left-leaning candidates now hold office everywhere from the county to Congress. Following November’s blue wave election, high off-year turnout propelled even more local progressives into office. 

Among their number is Labor Party candidate Alex Rose. Backed by local Democrats, Rose handily beat Republican County Councilor Mike Embrescia, putting both at-large seats in the hands of progressives for the first time in Allegheny County Council’s 25-year history. 

Rose’s backstory mirrors one playing out nationally. A former Democratic campaign worker, he has shared in the rising national alarm at U.S. President Donald Trump’s chaotic second term. When Republican county councilor Sam DeMarco announced his retirement, Rose waited as no one stepped forward to oppose DeMarco’s appointed replacement, Republican Mike Embrescia — so Rose decided to run himself.

“Two months goes by, no one’s running,” he tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “I’m like, ‘that is really a shame.’ This is an opportunity to really put a marker down on our county’s values and give voters a choice.”

With backing from Democrats, and despite a Republican-led lawsuit to prevent the contested election that went all the way to the Pa. Supreme Court, Rose beat Embrescia handily and will now serve out the remaining two years and one month of DeMarco’s term. His victory leaves District 2 as the lone Republican-held seat on council.

“I think it shows that the Allegheny County electorate does indeed really stand by some of these foundational values that we’ve been seeing challenged” by Trump’s administration, Rose says of his win. “I think it shows the American spirit is quite alive and well, even if our [federal] government is not being very responsive to that at the moment.”

Among Rose’s priorities for his abbreviated term is environmental regulation. “As I said a lot on the campaign trail, hundreds of people die in Allegheny County each year linked to pollution,” he says. “These are premature deaths that should not happen when they happen, and that’s terrible. If there was a criminal gang running around killing hundreds of people a year, that would obviously be all of our first priorities.” He supported a recently passed effort to raise air permitting fees for industry as a way to boost revenue and fund further environmental improvements.

Rose credits younger voters in the county with helping him make history this year — in addition to being the first at-large progressive, Rose, at 28, is among the youngest electeds at the county level, and he channels Gen Z’s broad determination to push for more equitable politics.

“A lot of people are extremely frustrated — they very much don’t believe our institutions work for them, but, at the same time, they’re not approaching that from a nihilistic point of view; they’re approaching it as a challenge,” Rose says. “Seeing that desire for change, that willingness to tag in and get involved, it’s really encouraging.”

This article appears in The Big Winter Issue: Winter Guide/People of the Year.

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