Innamorato’s win caps a wave of women's political victories in Allegheny County

Sara Innamorato’s victory Tuesday night means that Allegheny County will see a woman as its top elected official for the first time in history.

Only men have served as Allegheny County executive since the position was created more than 20 years ago.

“I stand on the shoulders of so many others that came before me,” said Innamorato, a progressive Democrat from Lawrenceville.

Historically, the Pittsburgh region hasn’t had a great track record of electing women into prominent positions.

Part of Allegheny County, the city of Pittsburgh has had only one woman mayor, Sophie Masloff, in its 265-year history. For decades, Pennsylvania was among the worst states in the country in sending women to Harrisburg or Washington.

It took until 2007 for Pittsburgh to send women to the General Assembly in Harrisburg.

But a shift occurred in 2018.

A wave of about a dozen women candidates hit Allegheny County that year, and the county saw its representation in Harrisburg add six women elected officials.

State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, was elected during the wave, which also included Innamorato, now-U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale; former state Rep. Lori Mizgorski, R-Shaler; and state Reps. Valerie Gaydos, R-Aleppo, and Natalie Mihalek, R-Upper St. Clair.

“In 2016, there were more men named Dan in the Allegheny County caucus than women, and now there are many more women than Dans,” Williams said.

Williams said Innamorato’s historic win didn’t happen overnight. On the Democratic side, momentum for women politicians grew after the 2016 election, and Williams said that work has only continued since.

“That work never really stopped,” she said. “Women are working together to get women to the table to legislate through their lived experiences. You are seeing people like me and Sara talking about student loan debt who actually have it. It changes the way we approach issues, and that is a good thing.”

Williams said that running as a female candidate can be hard. Williams, who won her first race in 2018 by less than 800 votes, said that women candidates are often underfunded and a lot of money comes late in their races.

Innamorato was outspent by a margin of 4-1 in her county executive race.

Williams said Innamorato’s large and active group of campaign volunteers helped offset that financial disadvantage by going door to door across the county to encourage voters to go to the polls or vote by mail.

Innamorato won by just more than 2 percentage points — or 8,300 votes — in a county where Democrats hold a 2-to-1 voter registration advantage.

Despite that, Williams said, “Sara has spent her entire career listening to people and building coalitions. If having someone listening to your concerns hasn’t been your experience with the government, give her a chance, I think you will be happy.”

Innamorato said she recognized the weight of being the first woman county executive.

“It might open (our administration) up to more scrutiny, but we will make sure we are on top of our game,” she said Tuesday. “We will make sure that we are making space for everyone and collaborating. And really delivering on the promises we made on the campaign.”

On Wednesday, she announced a transition team that includes Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, D-McKeesport, as an honorary chairman, as well as slew of regional leaders to chair a committee on recruiting talent and one working to ensure inclusivity.

Talent committee co-chairs are Robert Cherry, CEO of workforce development group Partner4Work; Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University; and Jennifer Rafanan Kennedy, director of the labor advocacy group Pittsburgh United.

Innamorato’s committee on inclusivity will be chaired by Lauren Byrne Connelly, a vice president with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development; Michelle McMurray, a vice president at the nonprofit Pittsburgh Foundation; and Monica Ruiz, director of Latino service group Casa San José.

Other transition team committee members include staffers for Gov. Josh Shapiro, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and state Sen. Jay Costa.

“This diverse and brilliant transition team represents the best of what Allegheny County has to offer,” Innamorato said in a release.