It\u2019s a surge that shows that Generation Z, the country\u2019s youngest cohort of voters, is fed up with a traditional politics-as-usual that steers longtime incumbents back into office and holds off fresh faces and ideas. Run for Something (RFS), a national organization that works to recruit the next generation of progressive leaders and help run their campaigns, saw intense interest from young people in running for office in 2025: Before President Trump completed his first year in office, more than 75,000 people had reached out to RFS to express interest in getting into politics.<\/p>\n
The Keystone State town was named after steel baron Andrew Carnegie in return for him gifting Carnegie a high school and a library. Carnegie was a destination for steelworkers and their families for more than a century before the industry began to collapse in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
Carnegie has struggled for decades to rebound. The town attempted to attract visitors from the surrounding area before Hurricane Ivan in 2004 undid much of that progress: Chartiers Creek, which runs through the town, flooded, damaging Main Street and other neighborhoods. A recent fire, in 2024, that shuttered popular restaurants on Main Street has also impacted the town\u2019s comeback. Today, Carnegie is home to nearly 8,000 residents.<\/p>\n
For the past 20 years, the town\u2019s residents have worked to rebuild the damaged storefronts and attract new businesses to Main Street. Bigham says that Carnegie\u2019s revitalization project has been exceptionally successful. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t really be able to tell there was a flood in this town,\u201d he says. As he looks forward to his first year in office, Bigham intends to build on that momentum and continue working on Carnegie\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n
He plans to encourage more community events and support existing ones in the hope that Carnegie will become a destination spot for Pennsylvanians. \u201cI want to do more to promote and market the town to people to come and visit and check out, and maybe even move to,\u201d Bigham says. These events would include bringing more vendor markets to the town and expanding the farmers and holiday markets that are already popular with residents.<\/p>\n
Bigham is uniquely situated to help further Carnegie\u2019s comeback as he\u2019s also the director of the Carnegie Community Development Corporation (CCDC) in addition to being mayor. The CCDC is the main organization in charge of revitalizing Carnegie, promoting the town, and attracting new businesses and residents. He\u2019s also studying for a master\u2019s degree in public policy and management at Carnegie Mellon University.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s very aware that his age poses certain pressures. On the campaign trail, Bigham worked hard to make sure voters in Carnegie knew he was a serious candidate. Bigham wasn\u2019t someone who thought it might be fun to run for mayor: Not only was he a Carnegie native and recent graduate, he worked as a junior town council member and interned with Pennsylvania state Rep. Anita Kulik (D-Allegheny County). She endorsed Bigham.<\/p>\n
![\"Supporters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Note-Sam-Bigham-011426-2.png\")
Supporters at a meet-and-greet for Sam Bigham\u2019s campaign hold up placards, May 7, 2025. Credit: Monica Muzsalski<\/p>\n
Bigham\u2019s opponent, David Klug, 59, a local cartoonist<\/a> whose work adorns the walls of Primanti Bros. sandwich shops, a beloved Pittsburgh-area chain of stores, harped on his opponent\u2019s age during the campaign<\/a>\u2014but that strategy ultimately backfired. \u201cWhen I was actually door-knocking and having conversations with people, the age thing actually kind of seemed to be a positive for most people,\u201d Bigham says.<\/p>\n He beat Klug with 75 percent<\/a> of the vote in the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in November, garnering the most votes in Carnegie history.<\/p>\n