Pittsburgh takes big step toward electing first Black mayor

State Rep. Ed Gainey speaks to supporters after winning the Democratic primary for Pittsburgh mayor, Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in Pittsburgh. Gainey defeated incumbent Bill Peduto. (Photo: Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto lost his bid for re-election Tuesday to Ed Gainey, a five-term state representative, as the city took a big step toward electing its first Black chief executive.

Peduto, a Democrat, had been seeking a third term against three primary challengers but instead called to congratulate Gainey, “Wishing him well” in a tweet late Tuesday.

Gainey was all but assured a victory in November in the heavily Democratic city. He had consistently made the campaign about equality for Black and poor residents, and accused Peduto of failing to ensure equity in policing, housing and other areas. At one point, he called Pittsburgh “a tale of two cities.”

“One person can’t change a city. A city is changed when we all come together to improve the quality of life for everybody,” Gainey told supporters late Tuesday.

Opinion: States rebel against governors’ arbitrary COVID-19 powers. Pennsylvania is the latest.

Statewide, Pennsylvania voters were given the opportunity to limit a governor’s emergency authority — more than a year after Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic restrictions drew fierce backlash among legislative Republicans — in an otherwise quiet off-year primary election that also included balloting for an open seat on the state’s highest court.

Voters of all kinds, including independents, were allowed to vote on four ballot questions, including two that stemmed from Republican lawmakers’ dissatisfaction with how Wolf, a Democrat, wielded his authority during the COVID-19 crisis.

It was the first vote of its kind since the coronavirus outbreak, as Republicans in nearly every state have sought to roll back governors’ authority during disaster emergencies. 

For Republicans, the top-of-the-ticket race was an open state Supreme Court seat, with three GOP candidates vying for the nomination. The Democratic candidate ran unopposed.

Voters also decided whether to write civil rights protections for race and ethnicity into the state constitution, while Philadelphia’s progressive district attorney, vying for a second term, fended off a primary challenge.

Disaster declarations

The two questions were on constitutional amendments that would give lawmakers much more power over disaster declarations, to apply whether the emergency is another pandemic or a natural disaster.

They asked voters to end a governor’s emergency disaster declaration after 21 days and to give lawmakers the sole authority to extend it or end it at any time with a simple majority vote.

Current law allows a governor to issue an emergency declaration for up to 90 days and extend it without limit. The constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote by lawmakers to end the declaration.

Wolf opposed the change. 

Results to the two questions were still being tabulated early Wednesday morning.

Ethnicity and race

Voters backed a proposal that would add a passage to the constitution outlawing discrimination because of someone’s race or ethnicity.

It’s believed to be the first time since last summer’s protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that voters were asked to weigh in on a racial equality issue on a statewide ballot.

It becomes the constitution’s fourth equality provision, added to “all men are born equally free and independent,” a protection from discrimination in exercising civil rights, and a 1971 amendment that ensures gender equality.

Philadelphia DA

Incumbent Larry Krasner, who was elected four years ago on a promise of radical change, beat back a primary challenge  to win the Democratic nomination.

Krasner has pushed shorter probation and parole, a curtailing of cash bail that disproportionately keeps poor defendants confined before trial and other reforms. His campaign for a second term was seen as a test of whether a wave of progressive prosecutors elected on promises of criminal justice reform could survive a rising tide of gun violence and homicides across the country.

Krasner, 60, a longtime civil rights and defense attorney, defeated veteran homicide prosecutor Carlos Vega, 64, on Tuesday and will be the heavy favorite in November.

Highlights during this day in history: Actress Marilyn Monroe sings a sultry 'Happy Birthday' to President John F. Kennedy; Black militant Malcolm X born; Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis dies; The Who's Pete Townshend born. (May 19)

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