Peduto challenger Ed Gainey: Fewer words, more action needed from next mayor of Pittsburgh

Ed Gainey says all the words a Pittsburgh mayoral candidate is expected to say.

If elected, he’d like to engage with people who live in each of the city’s neighborhoods, increase affordable housing opportunities, enact meaningful police reform and improve the way Blacks and other minorities are treated in the city.

Gainey is in his fifth term representing the 24th District in Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and he’s running for mayor because he’d like to improve the city he was born, raised and lives in.

His priorities sound no different from incumbent Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s. Both men are progressive Democrats in a city where Republicans rarely win elections.

“The reality is, we talk about what I’m talking about all the time,” Gainey said Thursday.

But “there’s been nothing that demonstrates we’ve made any progress. Period,” Gainey said.

In an interview with the Tribune-Review, Gainey, 50, of Lincoln-Lemington, never mentioned Peduto by name or made a direct attack on the administration.

Instead, Gainey emphasized his commitment to helping Pittsburgh make good on its billing as a “livable city” for all of its residents, including Blacks and other minorities.

“We have some serious disparities,” Gainey said.

There are also issues with affordable housing, gentrification and the wage gaps present when comparing white males to their Black and female counterparts.

“We can’t leave one set behind,” Gainey said. “Every community has to become important.”

There’s a difference between saying those words and making them a reality, Gainey said.

“We talk about it, but we haven’t done anything to change it,” he said. “You have to be present to impact change.”

Gainey pledged to “go to work every single day” to make progress toward those goals.

“I’m just trying to tell people who I am, focus on how to build up,” Gainey said. “I just want people to know it takes all of us to build a city, and we’ve got to work at it every single day. If you don’t engage, it don’t change.”

As a state representative, Gainey serves on the Appropriations, Education, Labor & Industry and Transportation committees.

As a candidate for mayor, Gainey said his focus is on bringing people together for good in the city. “I can’t build a city tearing people down,” Gainey said.

His state House district includes several East End neighborhoods and parts of Wilkinsburg.

Gainey was born in the Hill District. His family lived in South Oakland before settling in East Liberty; he graduated from Peabody High School in 1988. He says he wasn’t exposed to politics until he went to college at Morgan State University in Baltimore, graduating in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

While at Morgan State, he met then-Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. That meeting, his first with a politician, was the spark for going into public service.

Gainey became a legislative aide to longtime state Rep. Joseph Preston Jr. of East Liberty. He went on to run against Preston three times for the seat, prevailing in 2012. Before winning the House seat, Gainey was a community development specialist for former Pittsburgh mayors Tom Murphy and Luke Ravenstahl.

He is a father of three and married to Michelle (Coburn) Gainey.

Gainey would be Pittsburgh’s first Black mayor.

Gainey announced Tuesday he was entering the race and plans a virtual kickoff at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The primary election, on May 18, essentially decides the race for Pittsburgh mayor, as Republican voters are few and a GOP mayor has not served since the 1930s.

Peduto has long said he would seek a third term and last week he launched his campaign. Since then, he has added videos to his campaign website touting his love for the city and commitment to its future.

Retired Pittsburgh police officer Tony Moreno is also running against Peduto. Moreno announced his candidacy in September 2019. He has not returned messages seeking further comment on his campaign.