Mayor Bill Peduto, challenger Tony Moreno agree to run civil campaign; Ed Gainey silent on issue
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Pittsburgh mayoral candidate Tony Moreno took to Facebook with a challenge Thursday, asking his competitors to be civil, during the campaign.
Moreno, 51, of Brighton Heights is a retired Pittsburgh police officer. He’s running against incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto, 56, of Point Breeze and five-term state Rep. Ed Gainey, 51, of Lincoln Lemington.
“I am shocked and disappointed at the events that took place this past Saturday,” Moreno wrote, referencing a Saturday confrontation between Gainey’s campaign manager and a Democratic political activist. “The fact that a civilized and productive exercise of our city’s democratic process instead became a setting for personal attacks, harassment, and even physical violence is terribly sad.
“More than ever before we need leaders who reach across political divides and inflammatory rhetoric to ease tensions and bring unity, not provoke violence,” Moreno wrote. “We cannot allow anything similar to fester in the City of Pittsburgh. So today I’m calling on Rep. Gainey and Mayor Peduto to stand with me in denouncing all forms of political violence and harassment.”
Peduto said he was on board with civility.
“I would agree with that 100%,” he said. “I would appreciate to have nothing more than not just a civil, but a very strong debate on the issues facing Pittsburgh.”
Peduto made the comments before he was endorsed by Service Employees International Union 32BJ, the union representing commercial office cleaners, security officers, school and university workers, at an in-person, outdoor event in Homewood.
The mayor touted his record on the environment, affordable housing and other issues as he was joined by a few dozen union members.
Gainey’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comments about taking Moreno’s pledge.
Gainey announced he has been endorsed by two unions and a Democratic LGBTQIA+ group.
Moreno and Gainey are vying for the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement, which is due Sunday. Peduto isn’t participating in the process because of disagreements with the committee’s endorsement last year of Heather Kass in a race for the 36th District state House seat ultimately won by Jessica Benham.
Kass came under fire for social media posts that supported former President Donald Trump, and Peduto said he called for changes to the endorsement process that haven’t been made.
Moreno has also come under fire for similar social media posts, old tweets he says were meant to be “bombastic” to stoke political fires that also appeared to support then-President Donald Trump or Trump’s policies. He said he has now changed the way he operates.
In addition to tweeting about Trump, Moreno also briefly switched his voter registration to Republican after being a lifelong Democrat, something first reported by WESA political editor Chris Potter.
Moreno switched his registration back to Democratic before he announced his bid for mayor in September 2019.
He made the move to rile people up and no one responded, Moreno said.
“I switched and nobody cared,” he said.
Now, he’s a Democrat and this week he reaffirmed his support of the party’s values.
Among the endorsements Gainey picked up were those from Engineers Local 66 and International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 57.
The painters union used its endorsement of Gainey to bash Peduto.
The union shared a photo of the mayor speaking in front of a billboard of what it termed a “proud, anti-union contractor.”
“Someone who spends three-and-a-half years fueling and standing beside non-union contractors is absolutely not a friend of labor,” said Chris Geronimos, the painters union’s business manager.
In a statement, Geronimos went on to call Peduto a “neoliberal hack and an atrocity to working families.”
Peduto is also supported by the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, Steamfitters Local 449 and Sheet Metal Air Rail Transportation Local 12, and AFSCME Western Pa. Public Employees Council 54, among others.
Gainey has also been endorsed by the activist group One Pennsylvania; SEIU Healthcare PA, the union that represents many health care workers in the city; and the Steel City Stonewall Democrats, a group that lobbies for LGBTQIA+ issues.
Will Parker, 41, a businessman from the North Side, is also seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor. Parker has not run an active campaign.