PITTSBURGH – National politicians have used this city either as a visual prop or as an alliteration for the past two decades. You come here to a city where many people are in contact with the working class, either to take a political stand or to give themselves the much-needed working class street loan.
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Former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, Massachusetts’s multimillionaire senator, used the city as a backdrop to announce his election to Vice President, then North Carolina Senator, John Edwards, another millionaire.
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A few short months after serving as President, Barack Obama decided that Pittsburgh would be a fine place for the G-20 meetings of the leaders of the world’s largest economies. The discussion centered on how the city became a hub for green technology and high-tech innovation – rather than the working class.
When former President Donald Trump said he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris, his alliteration was lost in translation. Activists and reporters made a story out of this about his failure to win the city’s vote in the presidential election last year.
Joe Biden started his presidential campaign here, surrounded by town firefighters. He had his first visit here after winning the nomination and held his last campaign rally here the night before the election.
He also mentioned the city in his joint address to Congress on Wednesday.
While Pittsburgh receives a lot of attention as a backdrop, a landmark of Central America, the city’s own politics are never neglected.
For example, why do so few people show up to vote for the mayor? Is that why mayors in this city hold office forever or until they get a better offer? And why hasn’t a Republican candidate for mayor got more than 30% of the vote in nearly 100 years?
Bill Peduto has held the office of mayor since he first won it in 2013. He won again in 2017. Mayor races are won and lost in the May primaries, which are closed. This traditionally means that an incumbent mayor gets a few Democratic challengers, but ultimately wins, partly because of the money, partly because of the patronage, and partly out of fear of violating the status quo.
It is rare for a Republican to pass a personal challenge in November.
In his last main competition in 2017, Peduto won with 27,000 votes. He had no opposition in the November parliamentary elections, but won with 40,540 votes – an embarrassingly small number of people who turned out to be the most momentous elected leader for a city of over 300,000 residents.
Later this month, Peduto is due for his third term. This year has been a difficult year for him. He made efforts to appease the Black Lives Matter protesters and appease those who complained about the city’s rapid gentrification. He also had to shake off the perception that he is doing certain high-end neighborhoods a favor over those of the working class.
These weaknesses have created a division that is seldom seen within the Service Employees International Union. Health workers have jumped off the ship and are supporting Peduto’s rival, MP Ed Gainey. The SEIU on site, which represents administrators and security forces, supports the mayor.
Peduto tends to delve into polarizing speeches about politics rather than calling for good management. Politicians often miss the fact that good governance is not just about politics or about them or about scoring points for oneself.
Peduto faces two Democratic challengers in the race: Gainey, a veteran politician who runs to Peduto’s left and is gaining strength in the black-liberal, white upper-middle-class neighborhoods, and Tony Moreno, a military veteran and retired city policeman who is in the civic Districts of the city is gaining a foothold.
The challenge of every man represents the divisions not only within the Democratic Party but also within the city itself.
It’s been nearly 100 years since the last incumbent mayor lost, and it’s been 40 years since an independent candidate defeated the city’s Democratic candidate. (At the time, Richard Caliguiri was a member of the city council and a Democrat who promised then-Democratic candidate Tom Foerster that he would not run in Democratic Elementary School. However, he never technically promised him that he would not run as an independent candidate, and he went on to win and run the city in its second renaissance.)
Pittsburgh will have decided by the end of this month. We’ll soon know if Gainey and Moreno are just chasing windmills or if the status quo is really losing its luster.
Keywords: Pennsylvania, elections, opinion, primaries
Original author: Salena Zito
Original location: Elementary School in Pittsburgh
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