The General Election for Pittsburgh mayor, state Supreme Court retention and more is Nov. 4.
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Pittsburgh voters will elect a new mayor this year, deciding between Democratic nominee Corey O’Connor and Republican nominee Tony Moreno. More than half of Allegheny County Council seats are on the ballot, along with five of nine Pittsburgh Public Schools seats and four of nine Pittsburgh City Council seats.
Pennsylvania is making national news with its Supreme Court retention elections. Voters will deliver a yes-or-no verdict on whether to give three sitting justices another 10-year term on the bench. All three up for retention were elected as Democrats, and if they are not retained the court would consist of two justices from each major party.
Judicial retention elections have historically been low-key affairs and almost always result in retention, but state and national Republicans have poured money into this election, intent on ousting the three justices.
Here’s who’s on the ballot for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County voters this November.
*indicates incumbent candidate.
Pittsburgh will have a new mayor no matter what next year, because O’Connor defeated incumbent Ed Gainey in the Democratic primary. Moreno is making his second run under the Republican banner, having lost handily to Gainey in 2021.
Kraus is running for a second term as sheriff.
Three of the four City Council races are contested. District 2 is the lone open seat. Incumbent longtime member Theresa Kail-Smith is not running for another term, and her replacement will come down to her longtime staffer, Democrat Salinetro, and Republican activist Koper, who gained some fame giving a speech at the Republican National Convention last year.
There are six regularly-scheduled County Council races this fall, as well as two special elections. At-large Councilor Embrescia, a Republican, is running to complete the term of former Councilor Sam DeMarco, who resigned earlier this year. Rose, a Democrat, is running as an independent, meaning Republicans are at risk of losing this seat that traditionally is reserved for them in the county’s system, which bars one party from holding both at-large seats.
The other special election is in the 13th district, where Democrat Botta is running to complete the term of David Bonaroti, who resigned this year.
All five Pittsburgh Public Schools board races are uncontested. Three of the seats will change hands with current members stepping away.
Eight seats are up on Allegheny County’s Court of Common Pleas bench. Voters have 13 candidates on the ballot to choose from for the eight slots. Five are running solely under the Democratic banner, five under the Republican banner and three under both. All the candidates, even those running on the GOP line, are registered Democrats.
If the three Supreme Court justices fail to win retention, they will immediately vacate their seats, leaving the court with four members. Unless Gov. Josh Shapiro and two thirds of the Republican-led state Senate can agree on appointed replacements, the seats would remain empty until a partisan election to fill them in 2027.
Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.
This article first appeared on Pittsburgh’s Public Source and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
