Standing with his family and a cadre of former and current elected officials Tuesday morning, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor launched his bid to challenge Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s re-election.
“Pittsburgh, we cannot afford another four years of this administration,” said O’Connor in a pugnacious eight-and-a-half minute speech outside the Mill 19 complex in Hazelwood. “I am running because we deserve better.”
O’Connor, whose father was a former city councilor and mayor who died after less than a year in office, briefly alluded to his family history at the outset of his remarks: “I got into public service to fight for the communities I grew up in. Some say it runs in my blood.”
And he noted his own tenure as a decade-long city council member representing District 5: In addition to work on initiatives like gun reform and citywide paid sick leave, O’Connor said that one of his “proudest achievements” was playing a role in the ongoing efforts to resurrect Hazelwood Green itself into a mixed-use community.
Once the site of the J&L steel mill, the location had long been a “giant, rusted-out, closed mill site,” he said. But with civic leaders working together, “this is a neighborhood not of the past, but of the future,” he said.
O’Connor wasted little time before portraying Gainey’s tenure in office as a series of missteps and missed opportunities. In contrast to the vision that has begun to transform Hazelwood Green, O'Connor said, “There is no vision coming off of Grant Street anymore. … I see a mayor and an administration that is managing decline instead of working to grow Pittsburgh.”
O’Connor offered a litany of pulled-from-the headline examples to make the case, ranging from ongoing fiscal concerns to the controversial departure of former Police Chief Larry Scirotto to pursue a career in officiating college basketball. He accused Gainey of agreeing to let Scirotto referee as part of a “backroom deal” the administration had concealed from council and the public. And O’Connor pledged to be more transparent in budgeting and other matters: In response to a reporter’s question, he said he would furnish a copy of his daily schedule, as former Mayor Bill Peduto did at least partially.
More broadly, he said, Gainey “is allowing people to feel increasingly unsafe. Property crime, retail and car theft, trespass, burglary and shootings are far too frequent. [And] at the time we need them the most, the number of our police and paramedics are declining.”
He also accused Gainey of botching the city’s response to homelessness, accusing the administration of “playing Whack-a-Mole with people’s lives, shifting them from neighborhood to neighborhood in reaction to negative press … instead of investing in long-term solutions to help get people off the street.”
O’Connor even borrowed from some of the attacks Gainey made in his own successful challenge of Peduto. Gainey campaigned on a pledge to take a more aggressive tack that Peduto had on getting financial support from UPMC and other large tax-exempt nonprofits. But Gainey has little to show for his own efforts beyond some scattered challenges of tax-exempt property parcels.
“No progress has been made by this administration,” O’Connor said, “and it’s more important now than ever that [nonprofits] pay their fair share.”
In all, he said, “We deserve a leader who knows how to create partnerships, strengths revenue, supports growth, and invests in our communities.” Gainey, he said, had squandered opportunities to make more lasting use of federal COVID aid as well as local tools to create affordable housing.
Gainey’s campaign issued a statement in which the mayor professed to “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.
“Our future is bright,” the statement added, touting reductions in homicides and non-fatal shootings, as well as investments in affordable housing that include the issuance of a city bond and a planned $600 million overhaul of Downtown. “I look forward to earning the vote of everyone in our great city,” he said.
As is often the case in campaign launches, O’Connor offered few detailed proposals: He said residents “deserve an aggressive approach in recruiting” for public safety, and that he would “have a conversation about our major nonprofits” in a more fruitful dialogue than Gainey had managed. And previous Pittsburgh mayors, and mayors in other cities, have often struggled with challenges involving police recruitment and obtaining a satisfactory amount of revenue from large nonprofits.
Gainey can point to successes: Since a COVID-era spike in crimes like homicides and shootings in 2022, Gainey’s first in office, city crime statistics show double-digit drops in the number of shootings and homicides. And after inheriting a Land Bank that had largely failed to launch, Gainey has overseen increasing success in clearing the titles for vacant properties, a necessary step for turning them to productive use. Gainey and County Executive Sara Innamorato have begun coordinating efforts on addressing homelessness since she took office this year.
But those developments appeared to be too little, too late, for some.
O’Connor’s speech was attended by a couple of former city councilors — District 3’s Bruce Kraus and District 9’s Ricky Burgess — as well as two active state legislators, state Sen. Wayne Fontana and state Rep. Abigail Salisbury.
Kraus, who serves as O’Connor’s campaign treasurer, said that running for mayor “is difficult when you are up against an opponent. [But] I’ve known Corey the better part of 12 years, and not just known him but worked with him. I know he’s qualified. I believe he can do this.” By contrast, his doubts about Gainey deepened after Scirotto revealed his college-basketball plans.
Fontana, whose Senate district includes southern Pittsburgh neighborhoods, issued a statement endorsing O’Connor, saying that deteriorating city finances meant “a fear of going back to [state financial oversight], a fear of continued decreasing public services.”
Salisbury, who is Jewish, criticized Gainey’s handling of safety concerns among Jewish voters in particular, given a rise in antisemitism in the city and nationwide. She criticized his decision to join U.S. Rep. Summer Lee in a statement on the war in Gaza that angered some supporters of Israel. She said O’Connor, by contrast, “takes antisemitism very seriously. … That’s not always something that is popular.”
Burgess and Gainey, who both represented East End majority Black neighborhoods on Council and the state legislature, respectively, have long had a contentious relationship. When asked whether that played a role in his decision to support O'Connor, Burgess said that “Corey asked me to support him. He is my friend and we worked as partners on council.”
As for concerns that an O’Connor win would end the administration of the city’s first Black mayor, Burgess said “The priority has to be on a better city for all, including a better city for African Americans.” Many Black areas remain marred by blight and disinvestment, Burgess said. “We deserve thoughtful, responsible and competent leadership to rebuild Black communities and strengthen Black families.”
Although no current members of council were on hand for O'Connor's launch, three of them did attend a follow-up event he had in the West End Tuesday evening. Bob Charland, Anthony Coghill, and Theresa Kail-Smith — who collectively represent Pittsburgh south of the rivers — all welcomed O'Connor to area.
And while the council members have not formally endorsed O'Connor, it may be only a matter of time.
"This city needs you at this time," Coghill said. And he raised a longstanding grievance that southern neighborhoods are ignored, telling a capacity crowd of several dozen at the 412 Cafe that O'Connor understands that the south and the southwest have been neglected for far too long."
"We don't get the services that other neighborhoods in the city get," said Charland, who made a joking reference to O'Connor's less-than-average height: "In order to solve the big problems, we've got to elect the little guy."
O'Connor's wife, Katie, also poked fun at the candidate, saying that she asked two things of O'Connor: that he make the city a place where their children would want to stay when they grow up, and that O'Connor himself "do a better job of cleaning up the city than you do cleaning up our house."
Later O'Connor met with supporters at Bulldog's Pub in Morningside, some of whom chanted his name when he clambered on the bar to speak.
Chrissy Truxell of Greenfield said she was excited to support someone who is young but can "hit the ground running with his past experience."
"I love when [O'Connor] talks about transparency in spending, and holding people accountable," she said, adding that public safety and addressing homeless were key issues for her.
Lena Michelle Gainer of Larimer moved back to Pittsburgh two years ago, and is frustrated about the state of neighborhoods she grew up in.
"I'm here to find out what is the plan to make a change," she said. "Corey has mentioned that regularly and I want to see it happen."
The Democratic primary is May 20.
Julia Maruca contributed to this story.
