Allegheny County, statewide races spending millions this year as election nears

As the final weekend before Tuesday’s general election approaches, an even greater influx of political ads are expected for candidates to make their final push.

Already, this year’s Allegheny County races have raised extremely large amounts of money, said Samuel Chen, an Allentown-based political strategist who works on local and state campaigns.

The vast majority of the money has gone to advertising.

In previous years, Chen said a candidate in a countywide race raising $100,000 would have been commendable.

But this year’s races in Allegheny County have far outpaced that. In particular, Republicans, eyeing their best chance at winning in many years, have upped the ante, Chen said.

The races for Allegheny County executive and district attorney have raised $3.7 million combined, according to political ad tracker AdImpact.

“Those are astronomically high numbers for a county race,” Chen said.

Republican Allegheny County executive candidate Joe Rockey is leading the way in fundraising locally. Chen said. There is a big push to boost his name recognition and try to sway swing-voting Democrats and independents in a county where Democrats have a large registered voter advantage.

Alison Dagnes, the chair of Shippensburg University’s political science department, studies elections. She said much of the spending in this off-year cycle is tied to the 2024 general election.

“Off-year elections are being pitched as the forerunner to next year’s presidential elections,” she said. “They’re seen as a barometer of how efficient next year’s negative partisanship and issue messaging will be.”

Even campaigns for local office — like Allegheny County’s district attorney or executive races — now attract national attention, Dagnes said.

Nowhere is that more evident than in the DA’s race where the vast majority of the contributions to Democratic candidate, Matt Dugan, have come from the political action committee of liberal billionaire George Soros. The money, his campaign finance reports show, has primarily gone to pay for commercials.

Ad buys, Dagnes said, have an impact.

“Especially for low-information voters who aren’t following this stuff closely, they are very important,” she said. “Name recognition carries a tremendous amount of weight.”

While ad spending is important for local races, Chen said that having a successful ground game is more important.

“Nobody is going to base the whole vote on ads,” he said. “That door knock or that phone call will connect with voters more. Ads certainly (are) a piece of the puzzle, but not the whole thing.”

#PAPol: With less than a week away, here are updated spending/reservation numbers in Pennsylvania's most expensive 2023 elections. pic.twitter.com/JYJOUCPTc7

— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) November 1, 2023

Allegheny County executive

The race for Allegheny County executive is the most expensive in the county, and one of the most expensive in the entire state, according to AdImpact. The general election has garnered nearly $2.5 million in spending, with Republicans spending $2 million and Democrats spending $473,000.

The race pits Democrat Sara Innamorato against Republican Joe Rockey. Both are vying to succeed incumbent Democrat Rich Fitzgerald, who is term-limited after being elected in 2011.

Rockey, a retired PNC executive, has raised more than $1.8 million this year. That includes large contributions from building trades unions and $35,000 from Pennsylvania Rising PAC, the political group of Republican Senate candidate David McCormick. Early in the race, Rockey loaned $100,000 to his campaign.

He has touted the financial support as proof his campaign is gaining the momentum necessary to prevail in the heavily Democratic Allegheny County, where Democrats have a 2-1 voter registration edge over Republicans.

The vast majority of Rockey’s spending has been on advertisements.

Rockey has spent more than $1.4 million on the campaign, according to the most recent campaign finance reports from Oct. 23, and just over $1 million on advertisements.

Outside spending has also benefited Rockey. Save Allegheny County Action, a political group funded by Pennsylvania’s richest man, billionaire Jeffrey Yass, has spent $230,000 on ads supporting Rockey this fall.

Innamorato has raised $1.5 million throughout this year, but spent a significant portion of that during the competitive Democratic primary.

In the general election, she was easily out raised and out spent by Rockey. Between June and late October, Innamorato raised about $650,000 and spent $494,000, according to campaign finance reports.

Innamorato spent about $295,000 on ads.

But she has also touted her campaign’s work on expanding its ground game, and endorsements from many local unions, environmental groups and liberal activists willing to canvass on her behalf.

Allegheny County district attorney

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The race for county district attorney pits 25-year incumbent Stephen A. Zappala Jr. against former chief Public Defender Matt Dugan.

Dugan won the Democratic primary in the spring against Zappala, a lifelong Democrat. However, Zappala secured enough Republican write-in votes to get the GOP nomination for the general election.

Since then, Zappala has been working with Republican political firm Brabender Cox and spent $454,000 with them since September.

According to AdImpact, the race for Allegheny County district attorney is the third most expensive in the state.

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Democrats have spent $552,000 on Dugan, their candidate for district attorney, while Republicans have poured $705,000 into Zappala, AdImpact said.

The race for district attorney has featured a number of commercials, with Zappala painting Dugan as a progressive whose policies would lead to mayhem, particularly in Pittsburgh’s Downtown. Dugan, on the other hand, has presented himself as a reform-minded official who can bring together the stakeholders in the criminal justice system.

On the Republican side, much has been made of the money Dugan has received from Soros’ Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety PAC.

During this reporting cycle, the PAC provided Dugan with $1.1 million in in-kind contributions, essentially giving Dugan the upper hand financially.

Zappala outraised Dugan in contributions by 10 to 1, with Dugan taking in just under $67,000, while the incumbent received total contributions this cycle of $684,000. A substantial amount came from a variety of labor unions, including Western Pennsylvania Laborers, Plumbers Local Union No. 27, Steamfitters Local Union No. 449 and and Mid-Atlantic Laborers’ Political League.

His in-kind contributions were a little more than $10,000. Zappala also received $80,000 in loans during the month of October from people whose last names are Zappala.

Dugan listed only 13 individual contributions greater than $1,000 on his campaign finance report, while Zappala had 100, including several for $5,000 and $10,000.

State Supreme Court

According to AdImpact, the race for Pennsylvania’s only open state Supreme Court seat has been the most expensive in the state this term, with Democrats spending $9.4 million and Republicans spending $6.2 million.

Republican candidate Carolyn Carluccio had more than $1.1 million in her coffers in the last reporting cycle, plus another $2.2 million in in-kind contributions.

The vast majority of those, according to her campaign finance report, came from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which gave her more than $2 million in October alone.

That money, her filing shows, went primarily to media buys, digital ads and texting.

The Commonwealth Leaders Fund is a political action committee that raises money, according to its website, “for free-market and school choice candidates for office — entrepreneurs directly influence and engage in state-level elections in support of freedom-minded candidates.”

It is primarily funded by Yass’ own political action committee, Students First, according to Spotlight PA.

According to the filing for Democratic Supreme Court candidate Daniel McCaffery, on Oct. 27, he had $2.3 million available. However, his report showed he’d only received $318,000 in in-kind contributions. Nearly all of that came from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

Allegheny County Council

There are a handful of races on Allegheny County Council that could see close calls come election night, thanks to a mixed electorate and competitive spending.

In District 5 in the county’s South Hills, Republican Mike Embrescia is squaring off against Democrat Dan Grzybek. The district includes Bethel Park, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair. The incumbent, Democrat Tom Duerr, is not running for re-election. Before him, the seat was held by Republican Sue Means.

Embrescia has raised about $24,000 this cycle, and spent $16,300 as of Oct. 23. Notable donors include Means and $500 from the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1 labor union.

Gryzbeck has raised about $11,600 from last year to June 2023. His October report was not available. He has spent $7,200 as of June. Notable donors include County Councilwoman at-large Bethany Hallam, D-Marshall-Shadeland, and $1,000 from the Plumbers Union Local No. 27.

Two races centered around the city of Pittsburgh involving Democrats and independent progressive candidates have attracted a fair amount of funds for county council races.

Incumbent Democrat DeWitt Walton of District 10 is being challenged by longtime activist and independent Carl Redwood, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. District 10 covers Pittsburgh’s Hill District, much of the city’s East End, as well as Wilkinsburg, Braddock Hills, Edgewood and Forest Hills.

Walton has raised about $87,000 this year and has spent $42,600. A union organizer with the Steelworkers, he has received major contributions from local trades unions, including $20,000 each from Steamfitters Local No. 449 and the Western Pennsylvania Laborers.

Redwood has about $61,300, with many individual donations of $100 or less this year, and has spent $37,400. Notable contributors include Wasi Mohamed, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale. Lee endorsed Redwood.

District 13 will see a new representative, as incumbent Democrat Olivia Bennett is not running for re-election. Democrat David Bonaroti is facing off against independent Sam Schmidt; she’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The district includes Pittsburgh’s North Side, Lawrenceville, the Strip District, parts of the South Side and Hilltop, as well as Bellevue.

Bonaroti has raised about $23,000 this cycle and spent about $20,700. He has received financial support from Western Pennsylvania Laborers and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Schmidt has raised about $17,000 and spent about $13,000 this cycle. Bennett has endorsed her to take over her seat and the Pennsylvania Sierra Club donated $250.

Ryan Deto and Paula Reed Ward are Tribune-Review staff writers. Reach Paula at pward@triblive.com or via Twitter @PaulaReedWard. Contact Ryan by email at rdeto@triblive.com or via Twitter @ryandeto.