Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey Gets Key Backing From Unions

PITTSBURGH, PA — Many of the city's largest unions officially announced Tuesday that they are backing Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey in his reelection bid and will embark on a massive voter mobilization plan for him.

Endorsing the mayor are the United Steel Workers, Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, SEIU Healthcare PA, United Food and Commercial Workers, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, Unite Here and the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Workers United.

Collectively, those unions represent more than 20,000 voters and their families.

“Ed Gainey is the only candidate for working families and progressive Democrats, full stop,” the unions said in a joint statement.

“Over the past four years, Mayor Gainey has carried out his vision for lifting up wages and good jobs, building new affordable housing, holding giant so-called ‘non-profit’ corporations accountable to pay their fair share of taxes, and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to our city. He is the leader for this historic moment, when we need to defend funding for vital services and stand up for the rights and freedoms of working people."

Gainey is locked in a spirited primary battle with Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, the son of former Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O'Connor, for the Democratic mayoral nomination. The primary essentially is the mayoral election, as Pittsburgh has an overwhelming majority of Democratic voters and has not had a Republican mayor in nearly a century.

Although Gainey is the incumbent, O'Connor has enjoyed a significant fundraising edge and last week was endorsed by the county Democratic Committee.

The primary is on May 20.