Allegheny County Democratic endorsements show leftward shift on committee

Two progressive candidates in high-profile, countywide races earned endorsements this month from the traditionally moderate Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

In years past, the committee has been known to back moderate candidates and those with longstanding insider connections to local committee members.

On March 5, progressive District Attorney candidate Matt Dugan and Bethany Hallam, a progressive candidate for an at-large Allegheny County Council seat, received endorsements from the committee. Dugan received 820 committee votes compared to incumbent District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.’s 578 votes, while the incumbent Hallam got 819 votes compared to 553 for her challenger Joanna Doven.

State Rep. Sara Innamorato, a progressive candidate for Allegheny County executive, came up just short in her bid for an endorsement in that race. Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein, a more moderate and establishment Democrat, won with 545 votes, compared to 457 for Innamorato, 391 for Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb and 17 for former Allegheny County Councilman Dave Fawcett.

Schuyler Sheaffer, a Democratic campaign veteran who is working on several local races, said the endorsement results signify a shift in the committee, and he thinks the committee is now “more reflective of the democratic electorate as a whole.”

Over the past few years, progressive candidates have won in Allegheny County despite failing to pick up endorsements from the Democratic committee. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, has won four primary elections — three for state representative and one for Congress — despite never receiving the endorsement from the committee.

“Before, people were getting to the point where the endorsement was almost a scarlet letter, almost viewed as a negative. And many voters were diminishing its importance after endorsed candidates lost elections,” Sheaffer said. “But now, maybe the committee is signaling it is at the same place as where Democratic voters are.”

Dugan, a public defender running for district attorney, said the endorsements are the result of new blood on the committee and shifting politics.

“In pockets of the county that weren’t historically progressive, there seems to be a new energy,” he said.

He said his campaign traveled across the county and spoke with all of its Democratic committees, delivering a message of criminal justice reform. In 2019, incumbent District Attorney Stephen Zappala won the Democratic committee endorsement.

“We spend the majority of our resources prosecuting these low-level, nonviolent offenders, and that comes at the expense of prosecuting violent crime,” he said.

More than 1,400 committee members voted this year in the endorsement process. Dugan’s campaign manager, Nichole Remmert, said she expected only about 1,100 members to show up and vote.

She said the higher-than-expected turnout is indicative that the committee is growing a new, active base of voters that is establishing a different set of dynamics.

“It would be easy to say it was all just the progressives, but it was really just a lot of new people,” Remmert said.

She said the committee is benefiting from work that politicians and organizers such as Lee have done in attracting new and diverse members.

What jumps out to me about the committee endorsement vote today is how so very closely Zappala, Doven, and Weinstein tracked with each other

Candidate Votes/Total votes cast in race
Zappala 578/1398 41%
Doven 553/1372 40%
Weinstein 545/1410 39%

1/ https://t.co/9tZLhfoFK3

— Schuyler Sheaffer (@SkyGuyPGH) March 6, 2023

Sheaffer said many Democratic committee seats were filled or replaced following the 2022 election, shifting the political makeup on a precinct-by-precinct level.

He cited Pittsburgh’s 24th Ward, which was formerly chaired by a man who openly supported Trump on social media in 2020. That former chair and many of his allies on the committee resigned close to last year’s election, and the 24th Ward committee has seen a huge political shift since, he said.

Sheaffer said that North Side committee is now one of the most progressive in the county.

For Allegheny County Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, D-North Side, the endorsement results were years in the making. In 2019, she was elected to her first term even though her Democratic opponent received the committee’s endorsement that year.

After that, Hallam and her allies started trying to recruit as many new members to the committee as they could. Hundreds of new members have joined the committee since.

“We have committee members who are engaged and paying attention. It wasn’t that long ago people told me we couldn’t change the Democratic committee, and here we are,” Hallam said.

Doven, who runs a public relations firm, acknowledged Hallam’s success in building up the Democratic committee, but is still taking her showing as a positive sign.

“I think 40% is a significant success because I have had two months to take my message to the whole committee, whereas my opponent, the incumbent, has had over four years,” Doven said.

Hallam said she thinks some establishment Democrats have taken advantage of the committee and assumed its members would support them.

“It is about meeting people where they are at instead of telling people where they are supposed to be,” she said. “It is becoming harder to win on name recognition alone. You need to talk about the issues.”

Hallam said she believes the committee’s growth will extend beyond just endorsements and into general elections against Republicans because there are now more members willing to knock on doors and canvass in their own neighborhoods.

“We have engaged more Democrats, and we have made the tent bigger,” she said.