Pittsburgh City Councilor Bill Peduto announced over Twitter today that he has filed paperwork needed to be eligible in the 2013 mayoral race.
Peduto is serving his third term on City Council representing District 8, which includes the neighborhoods of Bloomfield, Oakland, Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, East Liberty, and Point Breeze.
He said his first donor was Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald gave the campaign $8,000.
“This is a partnership that goes back about 20 years. Rich and I have known each other and worked together,” said Peduto. “And having partners is one thing that I’ve learned over the years, that you can’t run a campaign without a team. And when you have somebody like a County Executive who’s willing to support you early on, it is like having a good quarterback on that team.”
Peduto said the money went to opening his campaign office, hiring a campaign employee and and recruiting a financial consultant.
This is Peduto’s third run for Pittsburgh Mayor. In 2007 he dropped out of the race two months before the May primary. And he finished second behind Mayor Bob O'Connor in 2005.
He said he never gave up on the idea of being mayor.
“It’s always been my intent to be able to provide for the city what we’ve been able to do in the East End,” said Peduto. “We’ve seen major economic growth, over $2 billion worth. We’ve seen property values increase, crime decrease. And, for the first time in my lifetime, and I’m 47, we’ve seen population grow by 10 percent while the rest of the city lost population.”
Peduto says based upon victorious mayoral runs he will need to spend $1 million to mount a successful campaign. He said raising that money shouldn’t be a problem with his large base of supporters.
Peduto said social media will play a large role in the campaign.
“I don’t have a surrogate speak for me on social media, I enjoy it,” said Peduto. “Probably the hardest thing during the next race will be pulling that iPhone out of my hand so that I’m not on Twitter and Facebook as much.”
Peduto will not officially announce his bid for mayor until November. He said until then the focus should be on reelecting President Obama and Senator Bob Casey.
