OLIVIA BENNETT
Left County Executive race in March; endorsing John Weinstein
Come May 16, you won’t find Olivia Bennett’s name on the ballot for Allegheny County Council District 13.
But rest assured, she is running for re-election, telling the New Pittsburgh Courier that she’s running as an Independent in the November General Election.
Bennett, a Black woman, has held a seat on County Council since 2020. She’s the only Black woman on Council, and one of two African Americans (DeWitt Walton). She’s most known for fighting for a county police review board, which has been established, but she told the Courier that’s half the battle.
“There’s still lots more to be done in this county, including getting police forces to opt in to the police review board,” she said during a May 9 interview.
Bennett, 44, said she’s brought to light what many groups have called injustices occurring at the Allegheny County Jail under warden Orlando Harper. She’s fought for upping the minimum wage for Allegheny County workers. She supports property reassessments, “and what that looks like for property taxes because it’s a disaster,” she said.
Bennett’s name also has made headlines this year as a candidate for Allegheny County Chief Executive. However, she decided to withdraw from the race in March.
“We did not have the financial support, did not have the people power and going across 130 boroughs with a handful of people at best is not sustainable,” she told the Courier exclusively. Bennett explained that when University of Pittsburgh researchers released its Gender Equity Report in 2019, it detailed just how bad many African Americans, especially women, have it in Pittsburgh. The report said that Black women could go to almost any other city of size, and fare better than they do in Pittsburgh. As Bennett began campaigning for Allegheny County Executive, she realized that the region still wasn’t ready to properly take the steps necessary to improve conditions for African Americans. More support from local politicians for a Black woman running for county executive would have been a good place to start, she said. But aside from Take Action Advocacy Group’s Fawn Walker Montgomery and a handful of others, there wasn’t much support.
“There were some Black folks that were supportive, but not enough to pull off a county race,” Bennett said. “White supremacy is not reserved for White people. We can all play a part in operating in White supremacist ways. There are Black people who believe that we are not qualified to create the solutions for us, to which I answer, no one is more of an expert” than African Americans in bettering conditions for them.
“I had people asking me and my campaign manager if I was ready (to be Allegheny County Executive),” Bennett, known as “Liv,” added. “I have a whole master’s degree, and you all still don’t have faith that I can do it. I don’t think we have that same caliber of resume-checking when it has to do with our White counterparts.”
Bennett said she paid the fee to become part of the race for county executive. But she didn’t seek endorsements from well-known organizations, with Bennett claiming there can sometimes be a fee for some organizations to even look your way when deciding whom they’ll endorse.
While Bennett obviously feels she was the best candidate for Allegheny County Executive, on April 24, she endorsed John Weinstein for Allegheny County Executive. Bennett told the Courier that she backed a particular candidate because, “Black women are the ones that are experiencing the most negative outcomes in the region…I can’t afford to sit out of a race of this caliber because I have to be the person who is standing in the gap for my people in the community.”
About Weinstein, Bennett, at Freedom Corner in the Hill District, said that he “gets it. He knows what we need to do in this county, and he’s willing to do it. We talk about juvenile justice, reducing gun violence in our communities and not just in the City of Pittsburgh, but throughout the county. We need to have solutions. John is committed to this, and that is why I stand here today proud to give my endorsement to his candidacy for County Executive.”
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