Corey O'Connor outlines his vision after unseating Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey
Corey O'Connor derailed Mayor Ed Gainey's hopes for a second term with a promise to move the city forward.
Only hours after his victory, O'Connor was up and about, working the lunchtime crowd at the Sheraden senior center, saying he'll be a mayor for all: progressive, conservative and everyone in between.
"Look at my record. It's open-minded to everybody. And, I think that's the Pittsburgh we have to build," O'Connor said.
In O'Connor's view, Pittsburgh has been stuck in neutral and suffering from a lack of self-confidence, not generating new jobs and opportunities and having never regained its momentum after the pandemic.
"We campaigned on opportunity and growth for everybody in Pittsburgh. And I even said it last night: we have to build a city where we're believing in ourselves again," O'Connor said.
To that end, O'Connor will be trumpeting a pro-growth agenda — something he says that's been absent in the current administration but needed to pay the bills. While he wants development to be both responsible and beneficial to the neighborhoods, he says Pittsburgh needs to be actively seeking those wanting to build and do business here.
"So we can have affordable housing all over Pittsburgh and we need it, but we also need companies. We need jobs. We need small businesses to expand. We need large businesses to also expand. We also have to start putting ourselves on a national stage. Why are we not attracting more companies to come to Pittsburgh?" he said.
Pittsburgh hasn't had a Republican mayor since 1933. If, as expected, O'Connor is elect ed in the general election, he's going to need the extra tax revenue new businesses would bring. He would likely take office inheriting a major fiscal crisis. He'd be dealing with no more COVID relief, dropping Downtown real estate values and aging city vehicles and bridges.
Mayor Gainey and his progressive backers tried to paint O'Connor as beholden to corporate and MAGA Republican donors, generating national interest in this race about a split in the Democratic Party between progressives and centrists. But O'Connor says it was a referendum on Gainey's performance in office and the need for change.
"This is not a national race. This is about Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers. And that's why we were successful yesterday," he said.
O'Connor wants to unify the Democratic Party but his victory is a blow to the progressive wing that has dominated politics for the past several years.
