In a contentious mayoral primary to be the Democratic nominee, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor is pulling ahead of the incumbent, a lead only furthered by endorsements from the young adults in Pittsburgh.
Last month, both College Democrats at Pitt and Young Democrats of Allegheny County endorsed Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, who is challenging the incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey, in the May 20 Democratic primary. Key issues in the race include public safety, city finances, Donald Trump’s return to the White House and affordable housing. Members of College Democrats pointed to housing policy as a deciding factor for students.
As of March 3, O’Connor is polling 12 points ahead of Gainey. More recently, O’Connor won the endorsement of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee in a 274-270 vote, though the city of Pittsburgh’s Democratic chair is continuing to back Gainey. O’Connor is also leading in fundraising, raising nearly triple the amount Gainey did in February.
Henry Cohen, co-president of College Democrats at Pitt and a junior political science and urban planning major, said College Democrats first endorsed candidates last year in the races for Senate, House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania Senate and House and decided to do it again.
“We figured it would be a good idea to outline an endorsement process by which candidates who meet the needs of the students can be endorsed by the College Democrats’ recommendation in Democratic primaries,” Cohen said.
Before voting, each member of Pitt Dems had the opportunity to speak about either of the candidates. Afterwards, members voted on paper ballots, counted the votes and announced the results to the club. Cohen said the club did not share the official result. He also said the biggest issue he heard from students was housing.
Cohen said he sees both pros and cons for both candidates. For Gainey, Cohen said he thought the mayor’s willingness to negotiate with student protesters last summer was “very impressive” and also cited decreased homicides under Gainey. As an urban planning major, Cohen said he thinks Corey O’Connor’s housing policies are “a big plus.”
“I’m still undecided at this point,” Cohen said. “I think that both candidates make a lot of good points … I’ve had some concerns with the Gainey administration’s inclusionary zoning policy. I think that is a policy that has been proven not to work in a lot of case studies that you can see of it.”
Austin Wise, a junior political science major and member of College Democrats, similarly said housing policy was a big issue brought up during discussions, as well as Gainey’s police chief scandal and O’Connor’s focus on retaining Pittsburghers and revitalizing communities.
“We’ve seen years now of mismanagement of the city,” Wise said. “There have been some wins. There has been some positive change, but when it comes to running a city administration that can retain employees that manage very important sectors of the city … the [lack of] ability to retain those employees and have people in there who can actually keep up with things has been big.”
Wise said he liked O’Connor’s mixed housing policy over Gainey’s inclusionary zoning and felt O’Connor’s housing policy would benefit students more.
“Housing is still super pricey, especially in Oakland,” Wise said. “A lot of transit lines don’t connect. Corey wants to work on making those lines connect. He wants to try out a trolley system again in Pittsburgh, do a little throwback, and his housing policy is just so much more informed and so much more practical for youth, for applying to Oakland.”
Wise also said O’Connor has shown up to more College Democrats meetings compared to Gainey and listened to them.
“He’s heard us out on multiple occasions and made it a point to give us a seat at the table,” Wise said. “And I think that helped win him the endorsement.”
Wise said students supporting Gainey during discussions brought up that Gainey fought for progressives and marginalized groups and made the point that they couldn’t turn their back on him. Though O’Connor won the endorsement from College Democrats, Wise said both candidates are “great guys” and “represent what the Democratic Party should be.”
“It’s really nice to know that we have such great candidates both running,” Wise said. “It’s their policy differences, their records are what separates them, not who they are.”
Young Democrats of Allegheny County declined to comment.