2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election

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2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election
Flag of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.svg
  2017 November 2, 2021 2025  
Turnout30.7% [1]
  Ed Gainey (51832725053).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Ed Gainey Tony Moreno
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote50,16520,162
Percentage70.8%28.4%

Pittsburgh Mayoral Election Results by Ward, 2021 fixed.svg
Pittsburgh Mayor 2021.svg
Gainey:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Moreno:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Tie:     50%

Mayor before election

Bill Peduto
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Ed Gainey
Democratic

The 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election took place on November 2, 2021. The primary election was held on May 18, 2021. The Democratic nominee, State Representative Ed Gainey, defeated the Republican nominee, retired police officer Tony Moreno. [2]

Contents

Incumbent Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto ran for re-election to a third term in office, but lost renomination to state representative Ed Gainey. [3] Four Democrats and no Republicans filed to appear on their respective primary ballots. [4] [5] Tony Moreno, though having unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination, was the Republican nominee after having earned sufficient votes in the Republican primary as a write-in candidate to win the nomination. [6] Two independent candidates had originally indicated an intention to file to appear on the general election ballot, though one withdrew and the other was removed from the ballot by judicial order. [7] With 70,885 ballots cast, this was the highest turnout for a Pittsburgh mayoral race since 1997.

Background

Bill Peduto was first elected in the 2013 election to succeed Luke Ravenstahl and assumed office in January 2014. [8] Peduto sought and was re-elected to a second term in the 2017 election; in November 2017, Peduto garnered 96% of the vote, having not had any significant opposition in the general election. [9]

Democratic primary

The Democratic primary election was held on May 18, 2021. As of January 2021, four candidates had indicated an intention to seek the Democratic nomination. Retired Pittsburgh Police officer Tony Moreno announced his intention in September 2019, [10] William Peduto announced his campaign for a third term in mid—January 2021, [3] and State Representative Ed Gainey launched his campaign in late January 2021. [11] Activist Will Parker launched his campaign in mid-December 2020. In March, four Democrats had filed paperwork to appear on the ballot, Peduto, Gainey, Moreno, and college math tutor and ride-sharing driver Michael Thompson. Parker did not file nominating papers. [4]

In mid-February 2021, Pittsburgh City Paper reported candidate Tony Moreno's Twitter included tweets praising Donald Trump, were supportive of Trump causes, and contained contempt for Democrats. [12] After Pittsburgh City Paper's report was published Moreno's tweets were criticised by Pittsburgh's Democratic Committee chairman, many tweets were deleted from Moreno's Twitter, and his Twitter was switched to protected status. [13]

In early March 2021, the Allegheny County Democratic Committee announced that it had endorsed Gainey over the incumbent mayor Peduto, with 326 votes. Moreno received 224 votes. Peduto did not actively seek the endorsement of the committee, citing its endorsement of a Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who had made social media posts supportive of then-President Donald Trump. Peduto received the endorsements of some other Democratic leaders, including County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, U.S. Representative Mike Doyle, and State Senate minority leader Jay Costa. [14]

Candidates

Nominee

Defeated in primary

Failed to qualify

Endorsements

Bill Peduto

Federal officials

State officials

County officials

Local officials

Labor unions

Ed Gainey

State legislators

Local officials

Newspapers

Political organizations

  • Allegheny County Democratic Committee [26]

Labor unions

Results

Results by ward:
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Gainey--30-40%
Gainey--40-50%
Gainey--50-60%
Gainey--60-70%
Gainey--70-80%
Peduto--30-40%
Peduto--40-50%
Peduto--50-60%
Moreno--40-50% 2021 Pittsburgh Mayoral Democratic Primary Results By Ward.svg
Results by ward:
  Gainey—30–40%
  Gainey—40–50%
  Gainey—50–60%
  Gainey—60–70%
  Gainey—70–80%
  Peduto—30–40%
  Peduto—40–50%
  Peduto—50–60%
  Moreno—40–50%

Bill Peduto conceded the Democratic primary election to Ed Gainey on the night of the election. [29]

Democratic primary results [30]
CandidateVotes %
Ed Gainey 26,47946.4
Bill Peduto (incumbent)22,40639.2
Tony Moreno7,44213.0
Michael Thompson6801.2
Write-in 1170.2
Total votes57,124 100

Republican primary

No Republican filed to run. [31]

Results

Republican primary results [31]
CandidateVotes %
Tony Moreno (write-in)1,37964.6
Bill Peduto (incumbent) (write-in)28513.3
Ed Gainey (write-in)1768.2
Other write-in votes27612.9
Total votes2,136 100

Aftermath

Under Pennsylvania law, a candidate can win a party's nomination via write-in votes if they surpass 250 votes in said party's primary, even if they are not a member of that party. This means that Moreno and Peduto both qualified to appear on the November ballot as the Republican nominee. Peduto stated he had no intention of continuing his campaign and endorsed Ed Gainey. [31] Moreno announced that he would accept the Republican nomination in late June and switched his party registration to Republican. [6]

Accepted nomination

  • Tony Moreno, retired police officer [6]
Declined

Independents

Failed to qualify

Withdrawn

General election

Results

2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Ed Gainey 50,165 70.77
Republican Tony Moreno20,16228.44
Write-in 5580.79
Total votes70,885 100%
Democratic hold

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References

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  2. "2021 Mayor elections results – Pittsburgh". The Washington Post . Retrieved November 3, 2021.
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  16. bill peduto [@billpeduto] (May 19, 2021). "I just called @gainey_ed and congratulated him on earning the Democratic endorsement for Mayor of the city of Pittsburgh. Wishing him well. Thank you Pittsburgh for the honor of being your Mayor these past 8 years. I will remain forever grateful" (Tweet). Archived from the original on May 19, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2021 via Twitter.
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  32. William, Parker [@Vote4WillParker] (August 25, 2021). "The Judge struck my name off the ballot today, I called him a racist and then walked out the courtroom. That racist bastard let Olga Manning get away with not having the required signatures. I'm going to file an appeal within 30 days and continue to run as a Write-In candidate" (Tweet). Archived from the original on August 25, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021 via Twitter.
  33. "Marlin Woods running for Pittsburgh mayor as independent". WPXI . Cox Media Group. June 11, 2021. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
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Official campaign websites