Moreno-West race leaves Pittsburgh GOP upbeat about party's prospects

Less than 24 hours after Pittsburgh Republicans chose former police officer Tony Moreno to be their party’s mayoral candidate in the general election, some suggested the GOP pulling off a David vs. Goliath in November is possible — even in a city where their registered voters are outnumbered 5-1.

Turnout was low Tuesday but Republicans appeared decisive at the polls. Moreno handily bested challenger Thomas West, pulling in roughly double the votes, according to unofficial results.

But Todd McCollum, the head of Pittsburgh’s Republican Party committee, feels a big part of the story is also the GOP holding its first contested Pittsburgh primary in decades.

“Republicans put two people up for mayor, and they’re both of quality,” McCollum, 54, of Perry North, said Wednesday.

McCollum, like Moreno, is a retired Pittsburgh police officer.

“The hope is that, in the long run, even more candidates will say, ‘Hey, this Republican Party? They’re working. They’re trying.’”

“Yeah, we’re the Little Engine That Could,” McCollum added. “But we’re going to keep working at it.”

To others, the journey to unravel generations of one-party rule in deeply blue Pittsburgh is the definition of quixotic.

There are more than 150,000 registered Democrats living in the city, Allegheny County data show. In comparison, there are about 30,000 Republicans.

“You know, hope springs eternal,” said Sam Hens-Greco, chairman of Allegheny County’s Democratic committee. “But that’s gonna be a real uphill fight.”

During a victory speech Tuesday night, Moreno said Republicans sticking together will strengthen their November showing at the polls.

“We’ve won twice, and this next one, we are going to speak the community’s voice for them,” Moreno, 56, of Brighton Heights, said. “It’s time to bring back accountability and transparency in the City of Pittsburgh.”

Moreno did not respond Wednesday to numerous calls and text messages seeking comment.

West, a business owner who told TribLive Wednesday his political future remains unclear, feels a win by a GOP candidate could open doors for others.

“I think it would open the door to more than just the same-old, same-old,” said West, 48, of Highland Park. “Maybe then, the media will stop saying, ‘Oh, it’s a longshot.’ … It would show the possibilities that are out there. And that’s what’s needed.”

‘Time for a change’

Pittsburgh’s last Republican mayor, John S. Herron, left office in 1934, amid the Great Depression, city historians told TribLive.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was president the last time a Republican, Robert Garland, served on Pittsburgh’s city council — 1939.

“It is time for a change!” said Jason Richey, a Sewickley-based attorney and former gubernatorial candidate who serves as chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County.

He sees a resurgent GOP embodied locally in Erin Koper, a community organizer running as the Republican Party’s candidate to flip the seat of outgoing Councilwoman Theresa Kail-Smith, a West End Democrat.

Koper ran unopposed in her party’s primary Tuesday — less than a year after she entered broader public consciousness with a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

“Erin’s going to win,” said Richey, 53. “And I think people are going to realize how important it is to have someone in government that has different views and can be the eyes and ears of keeping tabs on what’s really going on.”

“We haven’t had that in a long, long time — what, 90 years?” he added. “It’s time. It’s time.”

West, who runs a clothing shop in Lawrenceville, agreed.

“I wanted to be the mayor for everybody — but you do want to make sure Republicans are heard,” said West. “We need the Republican voices to be heard. The days of all those Democrats, this small circle of Democrats, sucking all the air out of the room? That’s got to stop.”

West, Pittsburgh’s first openly gay mayoral candidate, said the warmth and positive feedback he received from voters of all varieties had more impact than his 1,232-vote tally Tuesday might indicated.

New generation

Mark DeSantis has been here before.

The tech entrepreneur and Carnegie Mellon University professor ran against incumbent Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in 2007, a year after Ravenstahl, then 27, was thrust into the city’s top post by the death in office of Mayor Bob O’Connor.

DeSantis netted about 24,000 votes — 35% of the total, compared to Ravenstahl’s 63%.

Hens-Greco, the Democratic committee chairman, doesn’t think the GOP can pull that off this November. Moreno will be running against Corey O’Connor, the late mayor’s son and the candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic primary who beat Mayor Ed Gainey. Even if they could, it wouldn’t matter.

“If Moreno pulls 40%, he still loses by 20,” Hens-Greco said.

Campaigns that lose at the ballot box still might be able to influence policy in local government, DeSantis countered.

“Those old machine politics than ran Pittsburgh … are fading and I think a new generation is thinking about ways to do things differently,” said DeSantis, 65, of East Liberty, who self-identifies as “a solidly, definitively moderate Republican.”

“If the (mayoral) candidates can stick to what the people care about in the City of Pittsburgh, I think people will be more open — Democrats more open to voting for Republicans, Republicans more open to voting for Democrats,” he added.

Some Republicans have performed well at the ballot box on the county level, Richey and others pointed out.

In 2023, GOP candidate Joe Rockey earned 178,749 votes in the race for Allegheny County executive, nearly beating Democrat Sara Innamorato, who netted 188,232 votes.

Turning out

The GOP’s anticipation of strength at the ballot box has yet to bear fruit in Pittsburgh.

DeSantis said regardless of factors such as the Democrats’ sizable registration edge, it’s still important for Republicans to turn out in Pittsburgh and vote.

He said he made it a point to go to the polls Tuesday but declined to say who got his vote.

DeSantis said he hopes the GOP and its candidates learn a lot in this year’s general election by keeping things local.

“I hope (the mayoral campaign) offers a vigorous debate on the future of the city and the policy issues that affect the people who live here,” DeSantis said. “If they keep it at that, we’ll all be better off.”