Dear Fellow Voter,
We are told almost every election cycle that this is the most important one ever.
Well, this time for Black Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Western Pennsylvania it is true. Our Democracy, our diverse multi-racial community, is under extreme assault.
For as long as most of us can remember there have been two (2) Black state representatives in the Pittsburgh area: the 19th (Irvis, Robinson, Wheatley) and the 24th (Davis, Rhodes, Pendleton, Preston, Gainey).
It has only been in the last few years that we have enjoyed having four (4) Black state representatives (Ed Gainey, Jake Wheatley, Summer Lee, and Austin Davis).
Now with the election of Pittsburgh’s first Black Mayor Ed Gainey and with representative Wheatley joining the Gainey administration, our city will face for the first time being without a Black veteran state legislator! All the institutional and political knowledge is gone, poof. State representative Summer Lee attempting to be our first US Congressmember and representative Austin Davis running to be our first Black Lieutenant Governor, if successful, could mean in a short time 4 VACANT SEATS! A state delegation without Black representation could happen.
Against this backdrop, we also have to elect a new Governor and US Senator. The new Governor will pick the Secretary of State who oversees our election system in the Commonwealth. If Attorney General Shapiro is successful in his bid for Governor, we would shortly face an election for a new AG to replace him.
All this in the face of the right-wing Republican assault on voting rights that targets Pennsylvania as a swing state. In other words, we cannot afford to lose any of these elections. Democratic control of the United States House, Senate, and perhaps the Presidency could be at stake.
So, our community faces an immense challenge in the April 5th special elections for the 19th and 24th interim elections to complete the former incumbents’ (Gainey & Wheatley) terms as state representatives, and then vote again in the regular May 17th Primary elections filling both seats for the full term of two years.
So, we are about to make the most important votes of our lifetime.
We need to put forward our most seasoned, accomplished, leader/organizers in each of the seats that are or could become vacant.
Among the questions I ask you to consider when you vote are:
Who has the track record of community service to bring to the table?
Who has the experience of elected office?
Who has had the legislative experience of working to persuade fellow legislators to vote their way?
Who can work with young and old, male, and female, LGBTQIA, Black, and White, middle, and working-class?
Who can effectively push the ‘powers that be’ to enact policies and take actions that will help people?
I urge all of us to take a careful assessment of the choices that lie before us.
(Rick Adams is former Pittsburgh School Board Member, Pittsburgh Human Relations Commissioner, former Democratic Committeeman, and retired CCAC administrator.)