Shown above is candidate Cory O’Connor, left, fronting for real estate gentrifiers like Bakery Square and billionaire like Jeffrey Yass. Liberation collage: Ian Hoppes.
On May 20, incumbent Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor will compete in the Democratic Party primary for the nomination for Mayor of Pittsburgh.
This election is critically important for Pittsburgh as it represents a clash between different visions for the city’s future, backed by different interests —one that prioritizes corporate interests and unchecked development, and another that emerged from demands and hopes by oppressed communities for racial and economic justice. Since the last Republican mayor held office in 1934, whomever wins the Democratic Party primary will be this city’s next mayor.
Incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey, Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor, was elected in 2021 amid the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, promising progressive reforms, though he has since moderated some positions. His challenger, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, is heavily backed by the city’s real estate developers, corporate elites, and pro-Israel lobbying groups, signaling a potential rollback of policies aimed at equity and community protection.
How this election differs from others
Unlike past mayoral races, the growing Palestine solidarity movement and police-ICE collaboration concerns after Trump’s election have made international and immigrant rights issues two key points of discussion in this election. Additionally, this election is unfolding against a backdrop of intensifying gentrification, rising housing costs, and displacement of Black communities, with Pittsburgh’s Black population declining by 10,700 residents between 2010 and 2020.
Key issues and struggles in the election
- Gentrification and Corporate Control. Developers like Walnut Capital and institutions such as University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) – which avoids taxes on 656 acres of land – are backing O’Connor to push through projects that displace working-class Black residents. Mayor Gainey has resisted some of these efforts, but his administration has also faced criticism for not doing enough.
- Palestine solidarity and the Israel lobby. Pro-Israel groups, including AIPAC, are funding attacks on Gainey for his perceived softness toward anti-genocide protests, especially during the two encampments last summer in University of Pittsburgh campus, while O’Connor has ties to billionaire Jeffrey Yass, a major donor to right-wing Zionist causes.
- Immigrant rights. O’Connor has a history of dismissing calls for stronger protections against ICE, while Pittsburgh’s current but fragile non-cooperation with ICE, based on Mayor Gainey’s policy in place, could be overturned under his rule.
- Taxation of nonprofits. The “Big Five” (UPMC, Highmark, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University) avoid paying property taxes while draining city resources. O’Connor’s plan for voluntary payments would maintain corporate control, whereas people demand mandatory contributions.
The Black community’s perspective
Many Black voters see Gainey’s election as a historic victory but remain wary of whether he will fully deliver on promises to halt displacement and invest in Black neighborhoods. In the meantime, O’Connor’s corporate backing signals the risk of even more intense gentrification, policing and erosion of Black political influence in Pittsburgh.
Corporate interests rally behind O’Connor
Pittsburgh’s capitalist elite have united behind mayoral challenger Corey O’Connor, seeing him as their best chance to maintain control over the city’s working class and public institutions.
Real estate developers have spent $285,000 on O’Connor’s campaign, a quarter of his total fund. Walnut Capital, a local real estate giant, and its affiliates, have donated $13,000 to O’Connor’s campaign. Recently the company’s attempts to expand its Bakery Square complex has been stymied by the current city government’s refusal to grant certain permits and approvals. Meanwhile, UPMC – the city’s largest tax-exempt landowner controlling 656 acres – backs O’Connor’s weak voluntary payment plan that would maintain its privileged status.
The Israel lobby has also intervened, targeting Gainey for his restrained response to pro-Palestine protests at Pitt. AIPAC and billionaire Jeffrey Yass are bankrolling attacks, with Yass having donated $16 million to pro-Israel and islamophobic groups. O’Connor has cultivated these connections, meeting with Israeli officials and allies of Yass, who previously spent $600,000 trying to unseat Congresswoman Summer Lee.
On immigration, O’Connor has consistently downplayed protections, calling Pittsburgh “welcoming” while ignoring ICE’s growing presence in Allegheny County suburbs where most detentions occur. His right-wing backers at Commonwealth Partners promote anti-immigrant rhetoric, confident O’Connor won’t push for any pro-immigrant policies or legislation.
In short, O’Connor represents the interests of corporate-aligned development against affordable housing, against First Amendment Rights and peoples’ and students’ right to organize against genocide.
Elections are bought-and-paid-for by the ruling class
It isn’t just presidential elections that billionaires use their vast wealth to influence politics and buy elections. Whether it’s local businesses like Walnut Capital, powerful billionaires like Yass and Musk, or influential lobbies like AIPAC, the capitalist class will use its money to fund the candidate that best suits their interests to maintain their hold on society.
This is the current capitalist system working as intended. In a society where anything can be bought and sold money has an immense power. Of course, in that system those with immense amounts of wealth would use that power to influence and control society.
The only force capable of opposing it is a united and organized working-class.
Regardless of who wins, first in May and then in November, unless the working class is conscious of its power and interests, we will always be in a defensive position. The only way of ending this rule of wealth is through a socialist transformation of society and using the vast wealth generated by working people to actually meet their needs instead of making a tiny few richer and richer.
