Maverick Republican Tony Moreno knows he probably won’t be Pittsburgh’s next mayor.

But the unconventional candidate, who faces Democrat Corey O’Connor on Nov. 4 at the ballot box, says he stresses what needs to be said.

The retired Pittsburgh police officer first sought the city’s top elected post — unsuccessfully — in 2021 as a Democrat.

He quickly became known for his outspokenness, shaved head and arms sleeved in tattoos. His cellphone’s ring tone blasts a cover of the song “Bad Company” by heavy metal group Five Finger Death Punch. The densely packed ink on his left arm includes the names of three Pittsburgh police officers killed in the line of duty in 2009.

After Moreno exiled himself from the party that has run city hall since the Great Depression, some Republicans distanced themselves from him.

This spring, although primary voters helped Moreno trounce his GOP rival, the Republican committees in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County refused to support his upstart campaign. Moreno was declared persona non grata after he blasted party leaders on social media for failing to invite him to a dinner.

Supporters are undeterred from backing Moreno, whose campaign letters start with four words: “I’m not a politician.”

GOP voters responded. Moreno got more than double the votes of his opponent in the party’s spring primary. The road ahead, though, is long and steep.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 1 in Pittsburgh.

Moreno, who often focuses on the need to bolster a beleaguered police force, insists he is not finished despite unforgiving numbers.

“They tell me I don’t have a chance to win, that’s what everybody says,” said Moreno, 57, of Brighton Heights, as he drove his shiny black Dodge Ram pickup through the city. “But I still don’t see this (campaign) as a political action. There are things that need to be changed in this city. And they’re not going to be changed under Corey O’Connor.”

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