Joseph Sabino Mistick: Focus on the local in Allegheny County races

Even local elections can generate national interest these days. If the races for Allegheny County executive and district attorney are close, they could turn on issues with no connection to the jobs that are on the ballot — or be decided by people far beyond this part of southwestern Pennsylvania.

The next Allegheny County executive — Democrat Sara Innamorato or Republican Joe Rockey — will have a full plate just making this place work. The county has a $3 billion per year budget to deal with everything from roads and bridges to two airports, a jail, public transit, public housing, economic development, elections, tax assessment, public safety and a huge social services network, including mental health.

There was talk about all of those things during the campaign, in public forums and campaign ads. But time was also spent on issues that the county executive will never face. Thanks to the internet and our general contentiousness, national and international issues are also local campaign issues these days.

As one Republican operative recently said, “Who would have thought that the October surprise in the Allegheny County executive race would be the Hamas attack on Israel?”

But it has become an issue here — mailers went out last week — because of Innamorato’s early membership in the Democratic Socialists of America, a group that was quick to condemn Israel after the attack.

Rockey became a target for questions on the overturning of Roe v. Wade. That’s not an issue that will come before the county executive, but at the debate on WTAE-TV, Innamorato accused Rockey of “still committing to a party that is trying to … take away reproductive health care.” Rockey countered, “This election is not about national politics. This election is about the middle against the far left.”

That line can also be drawn in the race for district attorney. Incumbent Steve Zappala is a law-and-order Democrat running on the Republican ticket after losing the Democratic primary to progressive Chief Public Defender Matt Dugan. This, too, is about the middle versus the left.

But the bigger issue for some voters in this race may be this: Who gets to pick the district attorney of Allegheny County? New York philanthropist George Soros has successfully funded at least 75 progressive prosecutor elections around the country, leading to some controversy and growing pushback. His $1.8 million contribution to Dugan’s primary and general election campaigns is nearly all of Dugan’s campaign funding.

Zappala has raised nearly $700,000 since June from Democrats and Republicans, from political action committees representing labor unions and many others. A good deal of his support is local, or at least from donors in Pennsylvania.

There is unusual national interest in both races, and on Thursday, The Washington Post ran an article about Innamorato and Rockey, stating that “the little-noticed Alle­gheny County executive contest has emerged as a barometer of the national mood.” That’s fair enough.

But the Post article got it wrong when it called this a chance to see if “a backlash to Democratic rule is building in an urban area like those which will be key to the party’s 2024 success.” These races have nothing to do with the 2024 election. This really is about local public policy and the future of Allegheny County. Many of our voters are trying to choose a bipartisan middle path rather than the inexperienced intentions of our local progressive left.