{"id":25013,"date":"2025-11-05T03:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T03:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/25013\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T03:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T03:07:12","slug":"corey-oconnor-defeats-tony-moreno-in-race-for-pittsburgh-mayor-ap-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/25013\/","title":{"rendered":"Corey O’Connor defeats Tony Moreno in race for Pittsburgh mayor, AP projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrat Corey O’Connor defeated Republican Tony Moreno<\/a> in the race for mayor of Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Associated Press projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller, will succeed Ed Gainey, a one-term mayor whom he beat in May’s hotly contested Democratic primary<\/a>. Gainey made history<\/a>\u00a0during the 2021 election when he became the city’s first Black mayor.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

O’Connor said he is ready to move the city forward as mayor, a position once held by his late father, Bob O’Connor. The AP projected O’Connor the winner at 8:26 p.m. on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“I want to thank you, the people of Pittsburgh,” O’Connor said in a victory speech Tuesday night. “This victory belongs to you. No matter who you supported tonight, we are united in the fight for a safer, more transparent and more robust city.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

O’Connor, a former Pittsburgh city councilmember, campaigned on a promise to move the city forward<\/a>. In O’Connor’s view, Pittsburgh has been stuck in neutral and suffering from a lack of self-confidence, not generating new jobs and opportunities and having never regained its momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes the city needs to be seeking out those wanting to build and do business here.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

“The road that we will travel is long and steeply uphill, but I promise you this: I will be honest and transparent about the challenges that we face,” O’Connor said. “I will listen to each and every one of you. I will work tirelessly to commit to the promises that we made throughout this campaign. This victory is just the beginning, but I cannot do this alone. I’m asking you to join me in remaking this great city.”<\/p>\n

With his election victory over Moreno<\/a>, a retired Pittsburgh police officer, Pittsburgh hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1933. Moreno ran against Gainey in the 2021 primary election as a Democrat and in the 2021\u00a0general election as a Republican<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreno told KDKA on Tuesday that he will not run again<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh mayoral race resultsWhat’s next for Corey O’Connor?<\/p>\n

O’Connor is set to inherit a city with multiple budget challenges.<\/p>\n

The city faces the end of federal COVID-19 relief funding and a drop in tax assessments on Downtown buildings, plus concerns over an aging fleet of vehicles<\/a> and drastic understaffing, resulting in burnout and increased overtime<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In July, Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler’s annual fiscal report found the city is spending more money than it’s taking in. She described the city’s financial situation as “precarious.<\/a>” However, Heisler said the city is not yet in a crisis, but will be unless steps are taken to rein in non-essential spending and raise new revenue.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The demands are continuing to grow as Pittsburgh struggles to financially meet them.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Gainey congratulates O’Connor<\/p>\n

In a statement posted<\/a>\u00a0to social media Tuesday night, Gainey said he congratulated O’Connor and extended an invitation to begin the formal transition process. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“It has been my greatest joy to serve as the 61st Mayor of Pittsburgh,” Gainey said in the statement. “I wish Mayor-elect O’Connor all the best as he assumes the responsibility of leading our city next year.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrat Corey O’Connor defeated Republican Tony Moreno in the race for mayor of Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Associated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2103,836,73,75,74,50],"class_list":["post-25013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-ed-gainey","tag-election","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}