PITTSBURGH MAYOR ED GAINEY WANTS TO BE RE-ELECTED IN 2025.
High point for Gainey as O’Connor challenges for mayor
In the storied history of the New Pittsburgh Courier, spanning almost 115 years, along with other publications in Pittsburgh, no one has ever covered the re-election campaign of an incumbent Black mayor of Pittsburgh.
Until now.
On Dec. 10, 2024, Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, Ed Gainey, released a lengthy statement pertaining to the upcoming mayoral election in 2025.
But before this article gets into the meat of Mayor Gainey’s statement, how the statement came to be can be summed up in two words: Corey O’Connor.
O’Connor, 40, the current Allegheny County Controller who formerly was a Pittsburgh City Councilman from 2012 to 2022, announced on the morning of Dec. 10 in Hazelwood that he was officially running for mayor, as a Democrat, the same party as Mayor Gainey. There had been rumblings throughout the summer that O’Connor was considering a run. In the fall, he appeared on various local television stations in his trademark Central Catholic High School clean-cut look, wife Katie by his side, effectively confirming those rumors. Then, on Dec. 10, in front of some supporters at Hazelwood Green along with his wife and two children, Molly and Emmett, he made everything official.
O’Connor is the son of the beloved Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor, who died less than a year into his term in 2006.
Later on that Dec. 10 afternoon, Mayor Gainey’s statement that he released made it clear he wouldn’t be backing down without a fight. He discussed that his administration has seen a 45 percent reduction in homicides and non-fatal shootings, activated a $30 million affordable housing bond for 1,000 units of affordable housing in the city, and secured a $600 million commitment to transform Downtown.
No mayor is going to be loved by everyone. Mayor Gainey has ardent supporters as well as detractors. But he is the person who took down incumbent mayor Bill Peduto in the 2021 Mayoral Primary, so he has plenty of supporters and knows how to run a successful mayoral campaign, something that neither O’Connor nor any other future challenger have done.
“My aspiration to serve as mayor of Pittsburgh was birthed out of the desire to bring reform and change the status quo, to make this great city a place where everyone—no matter their race, ethnicity, gender or culture—feels safe, welcomed, and truly has the ability to thrive,” Mayor Gainey’s statement, sent to the Courier, began. “Winning an election isn’t about sitting behind a desk, it’s about governing, driving change, delivering results, and serving all people.”
Supporters of Mayor Gainey can attest that he doesn’t sit behind his desk on the fifth floor of the City-County Building. Mayor Gainey is everywhere—churches, neighborhood watch parties, birthdays, basketball courts, inside portable bathrooms Downtown, atop Mount Washington, waving a Terrible Towel as the NFL Draft was awarded to Pittsburgh, and at a vigil for a young person who may have been killed via gun violence. Supporters of the current mayor have told the Courier in recent years of their affinity for Mayor Gainey’s “down-to-earth” attitude, and that he truly understands what the Black community goes through in Pittsburgh. Supporters believe if there’s anyone who can lessen the gun violence epidemic in Pittsburgh, it’s Mayor Gainey. And data wise, they may be onto something. Data analyzed by the Courier found that there were 41 homicides within city limits through the first 11 and a half months of 2024, meaning that the entire homicide total for Pittsburgh in 2024 will be far less than the 49 homicides the city said it recorded in 2023…which was far less than the 70 homicides the city said it recorded in Pittsburgh in 2022.
“As mayor, the focus of my administration has always been on doing the work to build a government that works for everyone—whether it’s creating more affordable housing, restoring core constituent services, or making sure all neighborhoods are safe and thriving,” Mayor Gainey’s Dec. 10 statement continued. “It is my honor to serve the people of Pittsburgh, and I will continue to do so with great passion and pride. I welcome all those entering the mayoral race, as I am confident that healthy competition brings out the best ideas and will continue to foster progress in our city. This is not about personalities or politics, but instead about who can best serve the people of Pittsburgh and create a brighter future for all, and we will continue to allow this to drive our efforts.”
O’Connor, during his remarks on Dec. 10, took a few verbal swings at Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor. He said that “we cannot afford another four years of this administration,” and said that the Gainey administration was, in effect, managing decline rather than focusing on growing Pittsburgh.
“I see a mayor and an administration that is allowing people to feel increasingly unsafe. Property crime, retail and car theft, trespass, burglary and shootings are far too frequent,” O’Connor quipped.
While most African American residents in the City of Pittsburgh would agree that shootings are “far too frequent,” the Courier has learned exclusively that Pittsburgh’s non-fatal shootings count has decreased drastically since Mayor Gainey took office. In 2022, the city had 134 non-fatal shootings (and 70 homicides). In 2024, as of Dec. 23, the city’s non-fatal shootings stood at 81 (and 41 homicides), making it a nearly 40 percent decrease in non-fatal shootings in Pittsburgh in the past two years.
“Our future is bright,” Mayor Gainey’s statement read, “and I look forward to earning the vote of everyone in our great city.”
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