ACDC Endorsement Day featured a knife’s edge mayoral vote and lots of judicial picks

The Allegheny County Democratic Committee convened March 9, 2025 to endorse candidates running for Pittsburgh Mayor, Pittsburgh Public School board seats, six County Council seats, and eight judicial candidates for the Court of Common Pleas.

The event was held at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers building on the South Side. Committee members walked to the back of the building on a path surrounded by tables promoting candidates, with some handing out small items such as pins and customized can openers.

In a historic turn of events, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey narrowly lost the county party’s endorsement vote to Corey O’Connor 270 to 274. The margin was so slim that the Democratic Committee offered to perform a recount on March 10.

Gainey touted his administration’s accomplishments when asked about his motivation for running again. “I love the city and I love what we’ve been doing in the city. I love the fact that we’re able to talk about it from a public safety standpoint,” Gainey said. “We reduced homicides [of] children from [ages] 13 to 17 in 2024.” Gainey also highlighted his administration’s work on affordable housing (including $30 million in an affordable housing bond), investments in Downtown, and upgrades to the city’s fleet of vehicles.

Allegheny County Controller and mayoral candidate Corey O’Connor said he decided to run for mayor because, “I think Pittsburgh deserves better … Right now, we have a mayor that’s managing our decline, not even being able to hire chiefs of police, department heads are leaving left and right. Nobody wants to be part of the administration, [we’re] losing population, our unemployment is the second-worst in the country — so Pittsburgh deserves better.” O’Connor cited his extensive experience at city and county government in making a case to potential voters. O’Connor and Gainey have recent locked horns over fundraising and policy.

In the race for the eight available Court of Common Pleas judicial seats, the endorsed candidates included Pa. Rep. Dan Miller, Julie Capone, Quita Bridges, Matt Rudzki, Anthony DeLuca, Heather Bresnahan, Jaime Hickton, and Amanda Green-Hawkins.

Miller and DeLuca both spoke about their work with mental health in the judicial system. DeLuca, a labor union lawyer, said, “I was part of the small team that developed the mental health court in Allegheny County and I want to continue that work as a judge.” Miller said he would bring “a lot of disability and mental health work” to the bench: “Unfortunately, that is what is in the courts. So in many [cases], you’re talking family [courts], criminal [courts], and Orphans’ Court. There’s a big issue with disability and mental health … [and the] application of law to that population.”

Julie Capone, a candidate with experience as a prosecutor in the elder abuse division, said “When I was 15 years old, I was an aide to the nurses’ aides. I saw a lot of things that happened in the Alzheimer’s unit. I saw a lot of good workers, but there were a lot of traumatic things I saw happening. I carried that passion when I went to law school and worked in the elder clinic at Pitt, and I did pro bono work there and did any legal services for seniors that couldn’t afford it, so I carried that on to the district attorney’s office when they created the elder review unit.”

Kim Salinetro, an aide to current city councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, won the endorsement for City Council district 2. Kail-Smith announced her retirement in Dec. 2024, suggesting that Salinetro take her seat on city council.

Allegheny County Council has a historic six seats open in areas ranging from Moon Township to the Mon Valley due to council members retiring. Three of those seats were unopposed, while the other three were contested in County Council Districts 1, 3, and 9. Kathleen Madonna-Emerling of Moon Township was endorsed for County Council District 1, which includes townships from Findlay Township to Ohio Township. Lissa Geiger Shulman of Hampton Township received the endorsement for District 3, which encompasses townships from Aspinwall up to West Deer Township. Aaron Adams of Duquesne won the endorsement against three other opponents for District 9, which encompasses large swaths of the Mon Valley.

Bethany Hallam, the Allegheny County Councilor at Large representing the entire county, described the county council race as an open one.

“We have seven openings on the County Council right now,” she said. “Six of those are being voted for in today’s Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement. One of those seats is a minority seat, so it cannot be a Democrat because I am the Democrat at Large. That seat will be decided in the Republican primary. The other six seats include three seats being vacated by the retirement of council members. That’s council members Betkowski, Prizio, and Macey.”

“These are the most vacancies we have ever had in a County Council election, ever,” Hallam added. “So it’s potentially going to be a big shake up on council, either for good or for bad, depending on who wins these races.”

The primary election will take place on May 20, 2025. Voters registered as Democrats are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary while voters registered as Republicans are eligible to vote in the Republican primary. Independent voters are not eligible to vote for major party candidates in the primary due to Pennsylvania’s closed primary system.

This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2025.