Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s primary loss to Corey O’Connor is raising questions over whether incumbent Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato could also be in trouble.
After Pittsburgh’s incumbent mayor Ed Gainey lost his primary earlier this year to Allegheny Controller Corey O’Connor, questions have arisen over what it could mean to other establishment and incumbent Democrats in the city and county.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey thanked supporters after losing the hotly contested Democratic mayoral primary against Corey O’Connor.@KDKA pic.twitter.com/dRrcb8rdqc
— Jennifer Borrasso (@JenBorrasso) May 21, 2025
O’Connor’s victory, according to the Post-Gazette’s reporter, came down to a handful of factors. The financial support O’Connor was able to garner is out of the ordinary for a challenger. O’Connor outraised Gainey by 2000% in some months throughout the campaign. Additionally, Gainey suffered from a built-in narrative, one the O’Connor camp did not create, that he was incapable of governing and ineffective at implementing “good governance and practical leadership.” More importantly, the reporter offers, is that voters easily accepted that narrative, giving O’Connor an advantage as important as his campaign financing edge.
New: We found that 80% of campaign donations from real estate developers and construction are going to Corey O'Connor and his bid to unseat Ed Gainey as Pittsburgh mayor.
Why?
One big developer says with Gainey, "Nobody answers [our] phone calls." https://t.co/nhFrBeXmvU
— Charlie Wolfson (@chwolfson) March 25, 2025
For now, there don’t appear to be any threats to a second term for incumbent Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato. The narrative of ineffective leadership that plagued Gainey does not apply to Innamorato, despite coming from the same progressive wing of the Democrat Party. And while Innamorato “is not a fundraising juggernaut” according to the reporter, she can hold her own and prevent a theoretical challenger from consolidating support from the donor class.
Were a successful challenge to Innamorato manifest, it would likely have to come from Innamorato’s right flank. Such was almost the case in 2023 when Innamorato barely beat Joe Rockey who ran a centrist-themed campaign for County Executive. Innamorato’s primary win that same year also echoed the dynamics of Gainey’s primary win: a crowded field allowed Innamorato to win the nomination with less than 40% of the vote. Gainey’s first primary was in a similarly large multi-candidate race in which he won 47% of the vote. Fast forward four years later and he garnered roughly the same level of support but was only running against O’Connor.
According to Post Gazette’s reporter, the largest threat to Innamorato’s reelection chances is the expected countywide property value reassessment. The last reassessment conducted across the county was twelve years ago. Some homeowners could face exploding tax liabilities after the county raised the property tax millage by 36% during the most recent budget. Couple the tax hike with a reassessment that will almost certainly increase property values, and tax bills are likely to be substantially larger for many homeowners.
Residents are bracing for this reassessment, which some believe must happen as soon as possible to minimize the shock. Innamorato is being encouraged to “plan for a reassessment to occur this year”, sympathizing with the County Executive saying she inherited a difficult situation with the budget and property taxes from her predecessor Rich Fitzgerald.
While O’Connor’s victory over Gainey may portend trouble ahead for incumbents, the turnout for the May primary in Allegheny County was only 25%, the lowest in eight years.
