Warwick up big in Pittsburgh City Council special election race

Democrat Barb Warwick held a commanding lead Tuesday night in a special election race to fill a vacant Pittsburgh City Council seat.

With about nearly 83% of precincts reporting results in the 5th District as of 10:05 p.m., Warwick had collected over 76% of the votes counted compared with under 18% for Republican Eugene Bokor, about 4% for independent Matthew Mahoney and less than 1% for independent Robert McClune, according to unofficial tallies.

Over 14,000 votes had been tallied at that point, according to unofficial election results.

Warwick said she felt “very positive” just after 10 p.m.

“It’s really exciting,” she said. “It’s about people coming together.”

The winner will replace Corey O’Connor on City Council. O’Connor resigned to become Allegheny County controller.

The district includes the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Glen Hazel, Greenfield, Hays, Hazelwood, Lincoln Place, New Homestead, Regent Square, Squirrel Hill South and Swisshelm Park.

Warwick, 45, of Greenfield, launched her campaign after becoming involved in her community to push against the Mon-Oakland Connector project, a portion of which Mayor Ed Gainey scrapped in February.

Warwick said it felt like “such an improbable thing” that her fight against the project “turns into winning a City Council seat.”

Warwick said she is an advocate for public transit and safe streets. She said she would support inclusionary zoning, additional out-of-school programming for the city’s youth and the mayor’s Plan for Peace, which looks to address escalating violence in the city.

Bokor, 72, of Lincoln Place, said he ran to give voters a choice after seeing only a Democrat on the ballot in the last two City Council elections.

If elected, he has said he would push for more council oversight on how money collected through the parks tax is used, call for an audit investigating how the city addresses infrastructure problems and advocate for more police officers.

Bokor did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.

Mahoney, 38, of Greenfield, has said he wants to see the city provide incentives for long-term homeowners to stay in the city, provide wraparound services for people living in affordable housing and bolster crisis co-response efforts.

McClune could not be reached for comments regarding his campaign.

Related:

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