Democrats sweep Allegheny County elections

Students hardly participated in what became a bounty of Democratic electoral victories Tuesday… Students hardly participated in what became a bounty of Democratic electoral victories Tuesday night — less than 5 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls in Oakland.

The elections brought victories for Democrats including Rich Fitzgerald in the county chief executive race and Chelsa Wagner in the county controller contest. Voters also passed the referendum for a new city tax to fund the Carnegie Library system with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Whereas 26 percent of eligible Allegheny County voters made it out to the polls on Tuesday, only 2.3 percent of registered voters from Litchfield Towers and the Schenley Quad dorms ventured to the polls in Oakland.

Fitzgerald beat Republican D. Raja for Allegheny County chief executive with 62 percent of the vote and made a 10-minute victory speech at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers building in South Side a little after 10 p.m.

“You’re going to have my effort, my best work, my heart,” Fitzgerald said.

He pledged to make changes to transit, airports and human services but did not provide any specifics. He also emphasized the importance of a working middle class and the need to keep jobs in Allegheny County.

“We’re no different than any other parents in that we want our kids to live here, we want our kids to stay here, and we want their kids to stay here,” he said.

“That’s the reason I ran years ago for City Council.”

Wagner was also at the IBEW building and won the position of county controller with 62 percent of the vote, beating Republican Robert Howard.

Although the elections’ results marked a change from last year — outgoing Democratic County Executive Dan Onorato lost the county to Republican Gov.

Tom Corbett in last year’s gubernatorial race — the voter turnout wasn’t out of the ordinary in Oakland, which usually amounts to less than 10 percent in most elections.

Althea Sims, a poll worker at Posvar Hall, said that 99 out of 4,256 registered student voters from Litchfield Towers and the Schenley Quad came out to the polls by the time they closed at 8 p.m.

“I knew it was going to be slow, but I didn’t think it was going to be quite that slow,” she said.

Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall received few more student voters throughout the day.

Blithe Runsdorf, a pollworker at Soldiers &Sailors, said that 161 out of 2,876 registered voters came to the polls. She said nearly 400 of those registered voters are students who live on upper campus, and she predicted that about two-thirds of the voters that showed up Tuesday were students.

Nneoma Njubigbo, the vice president of Pitt College Democrats, said that she thinks the voter turnout is so low among students because they don’t realize how much county elections have an effect on issues like tuition, living conditions and public transportation.

Njubigbo, who interns for the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, said students don’t understand the direct impact local politics has on them.

“If local politicians made it a point to [show] students how local elections are just as important as national elections and what issues they handle at the state level, then student turnout would be higher,” she said.

Njubigbo said that the Pitt College Democrats “bleed Democrat” and was confident at the Fitzgerald event that the Democrats would “take the night” and win positions across the board.

Democrat Stephen A. Zappala Jr. ran unopposed for district attorney and Democrat Michael Lamb ran unopposed for city controller.

Democrat John Weinstein beat Republican C. Edward Pfeifer for county treasurer.

For County Council, incumbent William Russel Robinson ran unopposed for the seat in District 10, which includes Pittsburgh.

City Council districts 1,3,5,7 and 9 all had seats up for re-election and voters elected Democrats to all the open seats. Democrat Darlene Harris ran unopposed in District 1, Democrat Bruce Kraus ran unopposed in District 3, Democrat Patrick Dowd ran unopposed in District 7, and Democrat Ricky Burgess ran unopposed in District 9. Democrat Corey O’Connor beat Republican Josh Wander in District 5.