Mayor Gainey, DA Zappala spar after Gainey calls Zappala 'racist'

This week, the feud between Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and District Attorney Stephen Zappala entered a new chapter. During the almost four years of Mayor Gainey's term, there have been multiple occasions where the mayor and DA have not seen eye-to-eye.

This latest episode happened when, at a campaign event, Mayor Gainey spoke to supporters and said the following.

"I told the DA he's a racist. I ain't support the DA," Mayor Gainey said in a video posted online.

At a press event on Friday, KDKA-TV tried to ask Mayor Gainey about this, but he declined to comment. Instead, KDKA-TV was directed to his campaign, which issued this statement.

"It's no secret the Mayor and many, many Western Pa. Democrats have long disapproved of the Republican DA's actions — and campaigned for Democratic nominee Matt Dugan over him. At a time where Trump is rolling back civil rights protections cheered on by white supremacists, Democrats can't be afraid to call a spade a spade and stand up for the constitutional rights of our constituents."

Zappala's office issued the following statement.

"The District Attorney has too many important matters to be distracted by the mayor's failing administration; and apparently, a badly failing campaign.

One point of clarification, the conversation Mr. Gainey refers to with the DA, never happened."

This isn't the first time the two have clashed. They had differing opinions about the safety and enforcement of laws in Downtown Pittsburgh. Mayor Gainey saw Downtown as on the rise, while the DA said it wasn't safe.

"It's thriving in a way that it hasn't for a while. Nightlife is back in this city. Restaurants are doing well," Mayor Gainey said in 2023.

"If you are not going to enforce the law and it continues the move the way that it is, then I will sue you in federal court," Zappala said at the time.

Before that, they disagreed over a consultant report on the city's police.

Before the Gainey administration, Zappala also had issues with Mayor Peduto on a few occasions.