Local officials are looking with some trepidation towards a second Donald Trump presidency, but this week assured residents that they plan to look out for the city’s interests.
Pittsburgh City Councilor Anthony Coghill says he’s concerned about the impact Trump’s return will have on the Latino population of his district, which spans much of southern Pittsburgh. Trump has called for mass deportations of immigrants in the lead-up to the election.
The 2020 census logged 10% of the Beechview neighborhood in Coghill’s district as Latino. According to a 2023 PublicSource report, it’s the highest such ratio of any major neighborhood or municipality in the region.
“I don’t want to see ICE agents staking out in my neighborhoods, like we witnessed in the past,” Coghill said. He noted that he and his daughter are also both concerned about reproductive rights under the returning administration.
Council Barb Warwick admits Tuesday’s election results left her reeling.
“Obviously as a Democrat, the election results are extremely disappointing,” she said, adding the election was “definitely a time for reflection.”
“When it comes to our work at the city, we just need to keep looking forward and doing everything we can to make sure we are serving the people of Pittsburgh in a way that they need to be served, and perhaps in a way that folks across the country maybe don’t feel served by Democrats at this moment,” Warwick said.
“Elections come and go, but our job remains the same,” Warwick said, adding that her priorities of focusing on infrastructure and traffic calming still remain. “Those are always the things that are top of mind for me.”
Councilor Khari Mosley is particularly concerned that the new administration won’t share the same priorities as the city on things like infrastructure investments, traditionally distressed communities, climate resilience and expanding the region's housing inventory.
“At least going by the policies that have been presented during the campaign as well as the rhetoric, it doesn’t seem like a lot of our priorities are priorities to the new administration,” he said.
“I think it’s going to take some serious collaboration between local, county and state government to figure out how we can fill in the gaps that I suspect are going to arise once the new administration comes in and they focus their priorities.”
He expects councilors may need to put on their “advocacy hats,” and hold Senator-Elect Dave McCormick to account to “not forget about our cities.”
At the same time, Mosley says it’s “somewhat of a wait-and-see moment.”
“We can begin to strategize, but we also don’t necessarily know what to expect,” he said. “So we’re going to be somewhat planning and strategizing, but also responding and reacting to what the new administration has in store.”
Councilor Deb Gross said she has been asking herself a lot of questions in the wake of the election.
Her constituents have shown support in recent years for investments that the Biden-Harris administration supported, she said, including those in housing, childcare, food security, and local businesses and streets.
“I worry about that — the kinds of support and policies that really would have made city residents’ lives easier on a daily basis,” she said.
She plans to discuss with colleagues and Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration what changes could be coming to federal funding streams, and the potential that federal policy could preempt local control. She pointed to past debates over gun control as one area where that had occurred previously.
“In almost every way, local governments are preempted in a lot of states from doing things their own residents may be asking them to do,” she said. “ I wouldn’t want to see that kind of preemption creep over into other areas, where local government can be responsive to its residents.”
She said she is finding hope in Pittsburgh’s spirit of “neighborliness.”
“Person to person networks that help us all, I have got to hang on to that today,” she said.
Coghill said he was also glad to see a lack of fights or arguments at the polls on Election Day itself.
“I saw Republicans and Democrats alike talking, and everybody seemed to be getting along,” he said. “Hopefully that’s the turn that the country is making right now.”
In a statement released Wednesday, Gainey said he plans to convene city leaders to talk about the plan for moving forward.
“Our mission remains the same: We will always promote and protect the public good through excellent and equitable services for every resident and visitor,” he said. “We will use every resource to protect residents in our 90 neighborhoods, ensuring they feel safe and welcomed.
“The people of Pennsylvania and the nation selected a new president and leaders,” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said in a Wednesday statement of her own. “I believe democracy is fundamental to maintaining a free society, and I accept the outcome of the election. I will continue to defend our democracy and stand against any group that attempts to erode it.”
County Council member, and chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County, Sam DeMarco struck a different tone, calling Trump’s win and Republican sweeps in statewide races “a very clear message with both parties: the American people want economic growth, respect for the mainstream, and a strong international profile that doesn’t rely on needless entanglements abroad. They said as much in giving Donald Trump an historical political comeback.”
Julia Zenkevich contributed to this story.
