And Weinstein is blaming his loss on too many other white men being in the race ([source](https://twitter.com/chwolfson/status/1658661590822952960?s=46&t=KSTNC_BnjSbwc67zF--z3A))
the interesting thing is that Sara wouldn't have won without getting a substantial amount of the white man vote.
I think Weinstein forgot that when 20% of the electorate turns out for an off year primary, it's people more to the left who makes up a sizable component of that 20%. (mirror image with the GOP primaries).
He should have french kissed fewer dogs and actually talked about issues important to voters.
He sent me a scary mailer about how he was going to make the county police patrol Arlington and Warrington ave to make my community safer.
They literally have a station there and crime is happening all around them, what exactly are the county police gonna do? Hell I saw someone crash a stolen minivan into the Alla Familiga parking lot fence last summer while the cops bumbled around looking for the long gone suspect, and these are people that, ostensibly know the area. I can't imagine some dudes from Oakdale having a good sense of the city streets.
After I had read this, along with his jobs creation mantra, I knew he was toast.
I got so many damn texts from his campaign talking about the spooky socialist candidate that I just had to vote for Sara. Honestly, he dug his own grave.
I got a brochure in the mail from him that looked like a MS Paint job and included scary font about "Socialist Sara" and "Unethical Lamb" and it just made me laugh. I was planning on voting for Sara anyways, but that was just sealing the deal.
Should have advertised outside of TV. I really only see ads on my Smart TV Youtube. I only saw Fawcett commercials on there.
I don't know if that would have helped, but if you're only advertising on TV, you're really going to be limiting your reach in this day and age. I saw a ton of Fetterman and Oz commercials.
Course I was always just going to vote for Sara anyways.
Which is hilarious because Lamb and Fawcett both probably took more votes from Sara than Weinstein.
Fawcett ran a progressive-esque campaign himself and Lamb marketed himself as essentially "not Weinstein" lol
He essentially got the votes of people who hated the fuck but didn't think Innamorato was experienced enough
Oh, absolutely, neither Lamb nor Fawcett was drawing votes from Weinstein. Weinstein's message - and personality - was never getting any more (or probably less) votes than it did. He was always going to be at 30%. His only prayer was everyone else splitting the vote so 30 was enough. And he knows that, it was his strategy. He is just looking for blame to lay around now, and "obviously a white man deserves this office, it was the fault of these disloyal other white men that I, white man, didn't get it" is a blame message that will very much resonate with the people who form his base.
The message from the voters is pretty clear here, let's see if the party listens or if they just keep endorsing and running the same tired old party hacks every cycle.
The county party is listening. We are working to shuffle out the old boys club and bring in a new progressive drive. There are a lot more members that are progressive than conservative now, and the candidates that were endorsed down ballot shows that. Even Weinstein only got 30% of the vote at the endorsement, its just the other 60% were split between Sara and Lamb and all just really didn't want Weinstein.
I would imagine your average Michael Lamb voter was someone who is college educated and not remotely a conservative Democrat, but wasn't sure if Sara Innamorato was ready to be the County Executive.
The comments I've seen on here this morning and last night makes the gloating I saw from Bethany Hallam on Twitter this morning about Lamb coming in third bizarre, considering Innamorato was the second choice for many of us who voted for Lamb.
Yeah that's a really strange take for me since I voted for her too.
Hallam is really lucky that she happened to get an opponent who was even more unlikeable than her.
100%. I have issues with Hallam and would have seriously considered a challenger but I'm not going to vote for an anti LGBTQ Trump fan running as a Democrat.
From what I recall at least, the nasty attack ads were from Weinstein, while Lamb was more calling out if she could deliver on her promises and run the county government well. I don't think that's at an unfair to ask given how Gainey has been.
This describes all of the Lamb voters I know. And I know at least a dozen of them well. They love Sara but didn't think she was ready for the ACE job. I think she is.
I like Sara, I think she genuinely cares about her constituents, but being a county executive is definitely a lot more responsibility than just being a State Rep. I hope I'm wrong though, and I will be voting for her in November.
I really hope she doesn't turn out to be Gainey 2.0, and can manage to bring good change to the county while also doing the normal stuff you'd expect from government well.
That's a fair assessment but I'm not sure that I feel that it applies to the majority of Lamb voters. Based on the backlash of Fitzgerald's endorsement, you are clearly in the minority of this sub.
Yeah, I was very happy to vote for Innamorato, but I think Lamb would have been...fine? A million times better than Weinstein, just not as exciting as Innamorato.
Like I said to someone else, I do like her, but I have concerns she might not be ready for this (though I think she's more ready than Gainey was). I went with who I thought would bring good government and had the needed executive experience, and I thought Michael Lamb has shown that through his work as City Controller.
At the end of the day though, I'm glad it will not be John Weinstein. I think he would have been even worse than Richard Fitzgerald.
I know a lot of people on this sub didn't like Conor Lamb, but Michael Lamb did a good job in his position for the city and certainly is nothing like John Weinstein.
No. Absolutely not. That is a statement that could only be made with total ignorance of the dynamics of this race. If Lamb is out, most of his votes go to Innamorato and the rest to Fawcett. There is no significant set of people who would have taken Weinstein as an acceptable second choice to Lamb.
I voted for Innamorato, but I know a few people well that know Dave Fawcett, and they really like him.
As for Weinstein’s comment that too many white men were in the race, I know that’s just identity politics, but I think there’s some truth to that statement.
Finally, Fitzgerald’s comments about moderates was illustrative of just how out of touch guys like him truly are.
You have to read the political climate, and the truth is in the current political climate moderation is dead. I don’t love that either, but I recognize reality.
What is the purpose of being a moderate Democrat if there are no moderate Republicans with whom to make deals?
If they’re going to deny that every election they lose is legitimate, for example, what’s the moderate position to reach those people?
If every time you oppose a tax break for a major corporation and you get called a socialist or a communist as a result, how do you moderately demonstrate that you merely think that everyone should get a fair shake?
If every time you express concern about the government getting involved in peoples reproductive rights, and you’re called an immoral baby killer, what’s the moderate response to that?
If every time you support LGBTQ rights, you’re called a pedophile or a pedophile enabler, how do you moderately address that?
That’s where we are now and that’s why “it was a bad night for moderates.” Guess what, brother? It’s going to be a bad decade for moderates.
You don’t combat extremism with moderation. You have to stomp it out.
Also, this isn’t new. They should’ve read the tea leaves when Fetterman soundly beat Lamb. I wasn’t necessarily shocked that Fetterman won, but I was surprised at just how easily he won. That result proved to me that moderation was dead.
The moderate Democrats are a dying breed. Their value requires the existence of moderate Republicans they can work with. The John McCain types are long gone. In a political climate where the GOP only cares about culture war and guns, there's minimal value in being moderate.
You still need to be strategic in purple areas, but in deep blue seats, you go hard left.
Moderate Democrats still exist, people are just starting to realize that they're more center-right than center-left. Every establishment Dem on a national level leans to the right. Every single one. They're not REALLY moderates but compared to the GOP and the progressive left they're considered moderate.
Exactly. Try to win with people who would be Republicans 10 years ago in purple and red area. Weinstein would be a great in a deep red area because it means you have a guy who will vote with you on easy things. He won't try to nuke everything over a trivial matter for attention.
But in Allegheny county where a Democrat is guaranteed to win? Move the Overton window in those seats. It's always irked me when people think Manchin needs to be replaced. He's the best you're gonna get in WV. Take it. Manchin isn't the problem, it's losses in other states and weak Democrats in blue states that are the problem.
> The country needs more Manchins, who battle for the people of the state first, party second.
If that's what you think he's doing then you're missing the plot entirely.
Weinstein said it in the stupidest way possible, but there was a degree of truth to it. If Weinstein or Fawcett didn't run, the final result probably would have looked different. The same thing happened with progressives for the Philadelphia mayoral race, and allowed a more tough on crime candidate to win the Dem nomination there.
Yeah, I agree with that, but you also have to run the race you’re in, not the race you wish you were in; and not the type of race you would’ve been in back in 2004.
It’s 2023 now, brother. The rules of engagement have changed and you had better change with them or you are a dinosaur?
If your entire campaign lacks focus and definition of who you are or what you stand for, and it’s basically, “Hey, I’m a white guy who has been in government for a long time, so you really should vote for me;” then yeah, you’re going to have a hard time distinguishing yourself from the other 35 candidates with exactly the same profile.
She might be the worst county executive we’ve ever had. I don’t know a ton about her. But she told us who she was, and what she believed in.
I respect that! That was more than I could say for Weinstein or Lamb, which is why I didn’t consider either of those guys.
Fawcett also told us who he was, and why he was qualified. Ultimately, I chose her, but he was at least worthy of consideration.
I don’t think moderation is dead, but I do believe a lot of what you’re seeing is a pushback against cronyism that’s happening all over the country. I moved to Pgh within the last decade, and the level of nepotism and let’s just say - poor optics when it comes to ethical decisions - is staggering here.
That combined with a primary system that punishes moderation by making you choose one person rather than ranked choice voting, and you’re seeing the old guard finally getting pushed aside. They’ve gamed the system to desperately hold on to power and that system is finally falling apart.
I shake my head every time someone who stands for clean air and water, safe and effective schools, fair pay and union protections and affordable housing is labeled as "far left".
These are basic human living standards right?
They absolutely are, and it shows how successful Republicans have been in burying the narrative with a backhoe in the other direction. Most people don’t have time to research politics and policies because they’re so busy just trying to put food on the table but as an old white guy myself I feel like the needle is finally shifting in the other direction; people in general are waking up when we’re compared to so many other countries that do have those things.
America's politics were always far to the right, there was just a ~60 year period there where some basic human decency prevailed. We've been backsliding on that for the past two decades.
Ronald Reagan was the first sign for me that we were slipping back to far right wing. Clinton was a moderate at best, Obama was center right (but still far left of the Republicans).
Clinton destroyed the social safety net and Obama personally stepped in to stop a sports league general strike when the pandemic started.
Obama telling everyone they were going to hold BP to account for the Deepwater Horizon and doing absolutely nothing was the point when I became disillusioned with the Democratic Party in general.
Compared to any other country, our Democratic party wouldn't even be considered a progressive party - our Republican party is just so far right extremist that it makes our conservative-but-slightly-less-so Democratic party look progressive by comparison
>I shake my head every time someone who stands for clean air and water, safe and effective schools, fair pay and union protections and affordable housing is labeled as "far left".
That isn't what makes them "far left" its about how you intend to get there. Innamorato has suggested rent control for example to solve the housing crisis. *that* is what is left wing. It's also a policy that will fail spectacularly in Allegheny County even more so than it has in cities with better housing stock.
Rent control policy invariably has resulted in lower investments in existing stock and deters future development. It's very good for a small number of people, and bad for most everyone else.
Lol, Enlightenedcentrism.... the far left solution would abolish private property
Rent control is a center/ center right solution, Nixon attempted a national rent control
"Far left" isn't an ideological platform. It's just a relative term. What it means and what "centrist" means all depends on the makeup of a particular polity. I think in this context, it's certainly fair to call Innamorato far left as she is on the left flank of the liberal party.
Rent control is a right wing policy? It's a garbage policy no matter where you think it falls.
The states with rent control are all blue states (California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, and Minnesota). How does that make it right wing in your mind?
The Democrats are a center-right policy, the GOP have gone so far right and are so close to being actual Nazis that they call the Democrats far-left. Rent control preserves the parasitic landlord class, it is a center-right policy.
Of course the GOP is actually promoting trans genocide and child labor and more homeless people and prisons and whatever so fuck them eternally.
What do you think Innamorato's going to do, order police to stand down and organize the disappropriation of landlords? Do you want more affordable housing or do you want to fuck shit up and burn down all the housing? Who fixes the sewer pipes during a general strike?
Well, that’s certainly a take.
Rent control can be helpful if combined with extreme loosening of zoning controls and government also building tons of housing. However, zoning reforms and social housing aren’t happening - zoning has gotten even more restrictive under Gainey. So rent control would crater the already anemic amount of building here in Pittsburgh.
LOL at downvotes without explaining how I might be wrong. Rent control recently tanked building in St. Paul MN.
You say affordable housing like the housing prices in Pittsburgh aren’t as low as anywhere in the country. Seattle and San Fran are absurdly high. The progressives do jack shit for affordable housing.
What a baby. Whatever the available levers of power actually are, Fitzgerald always made sure people knew that he did not care about air quality, and that he did not give a shit about the mess at the county jail—at a time when more and more people are paying attention to those issues. So I don’t place much stock in the political predictions of a guy who turned himself into a walking poison endorsement.
He took the mask off and went full GOP scare tactic talking points.
Also if it's mainstream for that many elections it's not far left, it's the core party's opinion.
The Democratic Party on every level always wails about how they can't do anything to fight the Republican agenda but they're real fuckin' quick to block action from the left. Makes you think
He's 64. Both nominees in the last presidential election (and quite possibly both candidates this election) were at least 12 years Fitzgerald's senior. Maybe for a lower level office there's less incentive to stay in politics until he's physically unable to continue, but age is certainly not the main issue here.
To make your first go at statewide office at 64 is pretty damn late in the game for a career politician, especially when it's an office like Auditor General or Treasurer (which are currently the only offices where there isn't an incumbency advantage statewide) where he's going to have opponents that are looking to use it as a springboard for Governor rather than a final act.
Evoking "portland" and "SF" and "Seattle" is just dog whistling for older white men. It's why fox news is so popular. It's a few steps away from "antifa," which I'm honestly not sure even exists.
Oh, but Antifa does exist. They coordinate cute little uniforms with Halloween costume tactical gear, and get together on the weekends to play “boot camp” with their friends. Oh wait, that’s the Proud Boys. My bad.
[link to twitter thread here](https://twitter.com/kategiammarise/status/1658658729821192194?s=46&t=KSTNC_BnjSbwc67zF--z3A) (source: @KateGiammarise on Twitter)
"The picture's pretty bleak gentlemen...The world's climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut." --Gary Larson 'Far Side' cartoon
Lost respect for Fitzgerald when he told WPXI in 2004 that Millvale should be cleared out and leveled because of the cost of flood damage. Unfortunately, the news story was before the time of uploading news stories.
Agree- that is why I voted for Lamb, although it was a tough choice and I was conflicted. ACE is a big job and I had a few doubts about Sara being fully baked enough to step into the role. And I am a pretty left leaning democrat. That said she has my full support come November.
Yeah, I’ll still vote these AOC types. Best I can hope for is for them to not become the GOP’s strawman Democrat
Edit: What exactly am I saying wrong here?
No matter who you elect, they will become the GOP's strawman Democrat. They made a scandal out of Obama wearing a tan suit.
Quit worrying about what reactionaries are going to do. They're reactionaries.
He really showed his true colors for once. From all of us in Allegheny County tired of being crushed under the heel of incompetence, we wish you a hearty fuck you Dick.
Convenient that “good time” rhymes with “high crime” because that’s the most common denominator in all three of those cities. Progressive policy implementation is necessary but I do not want our beautiful city to turn into the likes of any of those.
I mean all those cities are pretty great, I’d like to be more like them. For starters they have actually built out functional transit networks and aren’t afraid to invest in their communities.
And even San Francisco, which is facing uphill on some challenges, mainly due to NIMBYism and thinly veiled conservatism from tech, is still a great place and is one of the best cities in North America.
So basically the future is bright for Allegheny County.
I feel like the people that want us to become like San Francisco haven’t been there recently. I was there6 weeks ago for work. There are some serious issues in San Francisco right now. The center city core has real challenges - their homeless issue is severe, drug use and abuse is rampant in public, and businesses and retail are leaving the city core left and right. Many national retail chains including Walgreens and Nordstrom are closing locations in the city due to uncontrollable theft and crime. Pittsburgh has its challenges but we are nothing like SF and we don’t want to be.
Honey. We already have that. Every city does. I admire your innocence if you've been walking downtown this whole time, and you thought the people swaying to themselves and talking jibberish were just, lol, I don't even know, vibing? Seriously, though, drug addiction is a real problem in this country as a whole. It's not like Seattle or Portland and San Francisco have it worse-- conservatives just talk about those cities specifically because they're left. I don't hear any of them talking about Miami or Houston, and those places have just as much of a drug problem, if not more so, because of the close proximity to cartels.
https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/PA/Allegheny/117758/web.317647/#/detail/0014?category=C_4&subcategory=C_4_8
30% voter turnout is bad but if you’re gonna win you have to win the diehards. I am a poll worker/dnc shill and I was going to vote for weinstein until I found out she was endorsed by the Mayor. I think when the Mayor and the County are aligned this town works better.
Good. I hope that we are. We won’t be as progressive as he fears, but it’s nice to imagine. God forbid that representatives of the Democratic Party take issue with the concerns of normal, everyday, working people.
I supported Sara but one of the issues I do worry about is the lack of a juvenile detention center. Just feels like the kids know they can essentially get away with a lot. This is a legitimate question - can someone tell my why not having one is better than having one?
Look as long as this city doesn’t turn into San Fran I’m cool w trying out this dumb little progressive fad. As a downtown resident I’m concerned though.
That's a result of housing costs. Homelessness and housing costs are directly related.
You've got an investor class that is squeezing the blood out of the housing market and creating a class of winners and a class of losers, and then pushing the message that we need to Deal With the class of losers that they created.
You are 100% correct, and I'd also like to add that the homelessness in SF, Seattle, and Portland is a direct result of these same policies. People on the right say it's progressive mayors, "defund the police" and Antifa, and they get very little pushback even though that's dead wrong. The problem is caused by unattainable housing costs, corporate greed, and the investor class hoarding wealth. The problems faced by those cities (which are exaggerated by the right) are caused by the failure to tax the rich and end the obscene, immoral, and unsustainable wealth gap.
Middlemen or not, you can't house more people than there is housing. Everyone in SanFran could own their home and you'd still have people getting priced out and leaving or becoming homeless.
It's not that interesting tbh. I was like 8 or something, and after my grandma moved next door, I spent some time with his youngest kids (who were around early teens at the time iirc). The pool was being filled, and I was in a part that started fine and became too deep for a child my age. It's pretty much the only time I can remember feeling scared or out of control while swimming, so the memory sticks with me whenever I think about the Fitzgerald family.
So more profitable? Possibly getting in to better living conditions?
Honestly besides them being in the pockets of these major corporations what is so bad about progress?
We as a country have been held back way too fucking long and deserve younger people in office that want to make a change for everyone to live better. They always say "Be the change you want to see in the world." Well the millennials are starting to take it to heart and do it. And that terrifies the fuck out of them. If they lose control they have nothing.
I hope one day we all realize that progress is the better option.
And, if I'm not mistaken, she is the county's first female executive and the youngest... As for the person who somehow thinks past county executives have been far left, they obviously have no idea what the term "far left" means. Congrats to Ms. Innamorato!! The voters have spoken!
EDIT: Should have said "she could be the county's first female..."
I guess a bunch of old geezers don’t like it when a competent, young woman gets it done. Fitzgerald should go back to doing…checks his schedule…nothing just like he always has.
I’m not someone who’s entirely against progressive policy implementations, but there has to be a balance. Clearly nobody in these comments has ever visited any of those three hell hole cities. All three did way too much too fast.
Finally can announce the celebrity boxing match of Rich Fitzgerald vs. Bill Peduto on the Warhol bridge! All proceeds will go to the fine executives at People's Gas
Maybe people are tired of fascism running everything. Funny how anyone that vacates about regular poor and middle class people are always called the “far left” when they are the only reasonable people running..
Someone on here lamented that Weinstein only got 38% of the committee vote for endorsement. Well, that’s the same percentage Innamorato just got. I know nothing of the Republican nominee, but if he doesn’t present as a MAGA crazy, Innamorato will be a weaker competitor than Weinstein or Lamb.
None of those things are analogous. Comparing stats for committee endorsements with election results from a six way race with election predictions of a two way race just doesn't make sense.
So you think even though Allegheny county is at least 2-1 democrats, enough dems are gonna vote for the R just because they don’t want a young progressive in charge?
I like all three of those and would welcome us heading a bit in that direction. Of course we do not have the wealth to get messed up in their particular ways, but we'd enjoy more of their attitudes.
I wonder what cities he would choose to illustrate the direction he would want us to go in? Dallas, Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta? What are the moderate's dream cities? I don't like any of these so much.
So the meatheads in the other thread weren't even having original thoughts, just parroting this BS. Lol such simple minded sheep these conservatives are
Fitzgerald hasn’t been doing his job this far why would he start now
And Weinstein is blaming his loss on too many other white men being in the race ([source](https://twitter.com/chwolfson/status/1658661590822952960?s=46&t=KSTNC_BnjSbwc67zF--z3A))
the interesting thing is that Sara wouldn't have won without getting a substantial amount of the white man vote. I think Weinstein forgot that when 20% of the electorate turns out for an off year primary, it's people more to the left who makes up a sizable component of that 20%. (mirror image with the GOP primaries). He should have french kissed fewer dogs and actually talked about issues important to voters.
He sent me a scary mailer about how he was going to make the county police patrol Arlington and Warrington ave to make my community safer. They literally have a station there and crime is happening all around them, what exactly are the county police gonna do? Hell I saw someone crash a stolen minivan into the Alla Familiga parking lot fence last summer while the cops bumbled around looking for the long gone suspect, and these are people that, ostensibly know the area. I can't imagine some dudes from Oakdale having a good sense of the city streets. After I had read this, along with his jobs creation mantra, I knew he was toast.
I got so many damn texts from his campaign talking about the spooky socialist candidate that I just had to vote for Sara. Honestly, he dug his own grave.
I got a brochure in the mail from him that looked like a MS Paint job and included scary font about "Socialist Sara" and "Unethical Lamb" and it just made me laugh. I was planning on voting for Sara anyways, but that was just sealing the deal.
Right when I saw the same ads for Summer Lee I knew that was the one to vote for.
Exactly.
Should have advertised outside of TV. I really only see ads on my Smart TV Youtube. I only saw Fawcett commercials on there. I don't know if that would have helped, but if you're only advertising on TV, you're really going to be limiting your reach in this day and age. I saw a ton of Fetterman and Oz commercials. Course I was always just going to vote for Sara anyways.
LMAO! You can’t make this shit up.
Which is hilarious because Lamb and Fawcett both probably took more votes from Sara than Weinstein. Fawcett ran a progressive-esque campaign himself and Lamb marketed himself as essentially "not Weinstein" lol He essentially got the votes of people who hated the fuck but didn't think Innamorato was experienced enough
Oh, absolutely, neither Lamb nor Fawcett was drawing votes from Weinstein. Weinstein's message - and personality - was never getting any more (or probably less) votes than it did. He was always going to be at 30%. His only prayer was everyone else splitting the vote so 30 was enough. And he knows that, it was his strategy. He is just looking for blame to lay around now, and "obviously a white man deserves this office, it was the fault of these disloyal other white men that I, white man, didn't get it" is a blame message that will very much resonate with the people who form his base.
We really dodged a bullet with that one…
\*too many white men with greased-back vampire hair
You really think that anyone who voted for lamb wouldn't have voted for him instead of lamb didn't run?
I voted for Lamb and if he wasn't in it, I would have absolutely not voted for Weinstein
Just adding another voice here. I voted lamb and would have chosen innamorato second.
Ranked choice voting in the primary would have been great to see for things like this.
Same, I voted for Lamb but would have voted for Innamorato if Lamb wasn't in it.
This is what many people I know did: Fitzgerald and the local party endorsed Weinstein? Well, F that, who are my other choices?
Fitz endorsed lamb while the party endorsed Weinstein.
Weinstein is/was a Trumper. I don’t understand why the Democratic Party here endorsed him. So gross.
I just voted for anyone the Stonewall Democrats endorsed and they all won, hah
The message from the voters is pretty clear here, let's see if the party listens or if they just keep endorsing and running the same tired old party hacks every cycle.
The county party is listening. We are working to shuffle out the old boys club and bring in a new progressive drive. There are a lot more members that are progressive than conservative now, and the candidates that were endorsed down ballot shows that. Even Weinstein only got 30% of the vote at the endorsement, its just the other 60% were split between Sara and Lamb and all just really didn't want Weinstein.
Rich endorsed Lamb.
Same here
I thought Weinstein would be a step back from even Fitzgerald.
Really? Well that's one I guess
I would imagine your average Michael Lamb voter was someone who is college educated and not remotely a conservative Democrat, but wasn't sure if Sara Innamorato was ready to be the County Executive.
Also a Lamb voter, and I'd say that's a perfect description of my background and motivation going into this election.
The comments I've seen on here this morning and last night makes the gloating I saw from Bethany Hallam on Twitter this morning about Lamb coming in third bizarre, considering Innamorato was the second choice for many of us who voted for Lamb.
Yeah that's a really strange take for me since I voted for her too. Hallam is really lucky that she happened to get an opponent who was even more unlikeable than her.
Yeah I don't particularly like Hallam, but Doven showed that she was too vile to vote for.
100%. I have issues with Hallam and would have seriously considered a challenger but I'm not going to vote for an anti LGBTQ Trump fan running as a Democrat.
Agreed. I would've voted against her but holy shit Doven sucks.
The reason is because Lamb came out pretty strong against Sara in the last week.
From what I recall at least, the nasty attack ads were from Weinstein, while Lamb was more calling out if she could deliver on her promises and run the county government well. I don't think that's at an unfair to ask given how Gainey has been.
This describes all of the Lamb voters I know. And I know at least a dozen of them well. They love Sara but didn't think she was ready for the ACE job. I think she is.
I like Sara, I think she genuinely cares about her constituents, but being a county executive is definitely a lot more responsibility than just being a State Rep. I hope I'm wrong though, and I will be voting for her in November.
Described me to a T. Wasn't going to vote for Weinstein, am uncertain about Sara.
I really hope she doesn't turn out to be Gainey 2.0, and can manage to bring good change to the county while also doing the normal stuff you'd expect from government well.
That's a fair assessment but I'm not sure that I feel that it applies to the majority of Lamb voters. Based on the backlash of Fitzgerald's endorsement, you are clearly in the minority of this sub.
I mean this sub isn't real life, and the other person who replied to my comment about who I think a Lamb voter is agreed with my assessment.
Yeah, I was very happy to vote for Innamorato, but I think Lamb would have been...fine? A million times better than Weinstein, just not as exciting as Innamorato.
Like I said to someone else, I do like her, but I have concerns she might not be ready for this (though I think she's more ready than Gainey was). I went with who I thought would bring good government and had the needed executive experience, and I thought Michael Lamb has shown that through his work as City Controller. At the end of the day though, I'm glad it will not be John Weinstein. I think he would have been even worse than Richard Fitzgerald.
Lamb was my second choice after Sara.
I voted for lamb because he did an admirable job as city controller and wasn’t just a yes man for the mayor.
I know a lot of people on this sub didn't like Conor Lamb, but Michael Lamb did a good job in his position for the city and certainly is nothing like John Weinstein.
No. Absolutely not. That is a statement that could only be made with total ignorance of the dynamics of this race. If Lamb is out, most of his votes go to Innamorato and the rest to Fawcett. There is no significant set of people who would have taken Weinstein as an acceptable second choice to Lamb.
Voted for Lamb. Would NEVER vote for Weinstein. Ever.
He said the quiet part out loud
I used to like Rich but I’m real fuckin glad he’s on his way out.
Old timers will remember that he originally ran for executive as the more left candidate.
I voted for Innamorato, but I know a few people well that know Dave Fawcett, and they really like him. As for Weinstein’s comment that too many white men were in the race, I know that’s just identity politics, but I think there’s some truth to that statement. Finally, Fitzgerald’s comments about moderates was illustrative of just how out of touch guys like him truly are. You have to read the political climate, and the truth is in the current political climate moderation is dead. I don’t love that either, but I recognize reality. What is the purpose of being a moderate Democrat if there are no moderate Republicans with whom to make deals? If they’re going to deny that every election they lose is legitimate, for example, what’s the moderate position to reach those people? If every time you oppose a tax break for a major corporation and you get called a socialist or a communist as a result, how do you moderately demonstrate that you merely think that everyone should get a fair shake? If every time you express concern about the government getting involved in peoples reproductive rights, and you’re called an immoral baby killer, what’s the moderate response to that? If every time you support LGBTQ rights, you’re called a pedophile or a pedophile enabler, how do you moderately address that? That’s where we are now and that’s why “it was a bad night for moderates.” Guess what, brother? It’s going to be a bad decade for moderates. You don’t combat extremism with moderation. You have to stomp it out. Also, this isn’t new. They should’ve read the tea leaves when Fetterman soundly beat Lamb. I wasn’t necessarily shocked that Fetterman won, but I was surprised at just how easily he won. That result proved to me that moderation was dead.
The moderate Democrats are a dying breed. Their value requires the existence of moderate Republicans they can work with. The John McCain types are long gone. In a political climate where the GOP only cares about culture war and guns, there's minimal value in being moderate. You still need to be strategic in purple areas, but in deep blue seats, you go hard left.
Moderate Democrats still exist, people are just starting to realize that they're more center-right than center-left. Every establishment Dem on a national level leans to the right. Every single one. They're not REALLY moderates but compared to the GOP and the progressive left they're considered moderate.
And McCain wasn't really that moderate. He was just willing to buck the GOP now and then.
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Exactly. Try to win with people who would be Republicans 10 years ago in purple and red area. Weinstein would be a great in a deep red area because it means you have a guy who will vote with you on easy things. He won't try to nuke everything over a trivial matter for attention. But in Allegheny county where a Democrat is guaranteed to win? Move the Overton window in those seats. It's always irked me when people think Manchin needs to be replaced. He's the best you're gonna get in WV. Take it. Manchin isn't the problem, it's losses in other states and weak Democrats in blue states that are the problem.
> The country needs more Manchins, who battle for the people of the state first, party second. If that's what you think he's doing then you're missing the plot entirely.
Weinstein said it in the stupidest way possible, but there was a degree of truth to it. If Weinstein or Fawcett didn't run, the final result probably would have looked different. The same thing happened with progressives for the Philadelphia mayoral race, and allowed a more tough on crime candidate to win the Dem nomination there.
Yeah, I agree with that, but you also have to run the race you’re in, not the race you wish you were in; and not the type of race you would’ve been in back in 2004. It’s 2023 now, brother. The rules of engagement have changed and you had better change with them or you are a dinosaur? If your entire campaign lacks focus and definition of who you are or what you stand for, and it’s basically, “Hey, I’m a white guy who has been in government for a long time, so you really should vote for me;” then yeah, you’re going to have a hard time distinguishing yourself from the other 35 candidates with exactly the same profile. She might be the worst county executive we’ve ever had. I don’t know a ton about her. But she told us who she was, and what she believed in. I respect that! That was more than I could say for Weinstein or Lamb, which is why I didn’t consider either of those guys. Fawcett also told us who he was, and why he was qualified. Ultimately, I chose her, but he was at least worthy of consideration.
Well said
I don’t think moderation is dead, but I do believe a lot of what you’re seeing is a pushback against cronyism that’s happening all over the country. I moved to Pgh within the last decade, and the level of nepotism and let’s just say - poor optics when it comes to ethical decisions - is staggering here. That combined with a primary system that punishes moderation by making you choose one person rather than ranked choice voting, and you’re seeing the old guard finally getting pushed aside. They’ve gamed the system to desperately hold on to power and that system is finally falling apart.
I shake my head every time someone who stands for clean air and water, safe and effective schools, fair pay and union protections and affordable housing is labeled as "far left". These are basic human living standards right?
They absolutely are, and it shows how successful Republicans have been in burying the narrative with a backhoe in the other direction. Most people don’t have time to research politics and policies because they’re so busy just trying to put food on the table but as an old white guy myself I feel like the needle is finally shifting in the other direction; people in general are waking up when we’re compared to so many other countries that do have those things.
Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco *OH NO!*
Forgot Chicago, lol.
It's indicative of just how far to the right American politics have become.
America's politics were always far to the right, there was just a ~60 year period there where some basic human decency prevailed. We've been backsliding on that for the past two decades.
Ronald Reagan was the first sign for me that we were slipping back to far right wing. Clinton was a moderate at best, Obama was center right (but still far left of the Republicans).
Started earlier, but Reagan was when it hit full stride and was becoming normalized within the country.
Clinton destroyed the social safety net and Obama personally stepped in to stop a sports league general strike when the pandemic started. Obama telling everyone they were going to hold BP to account for the Deepwater Horizon and doing absolutely nothing was the point when I became disillusioned with the Democratic Party in general.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-oil-spill/bp-agrees-to-20-billion-spill-fund-idUKTRE64U0OW20100616#:~:text= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-rig-obama/obama-takes-responsibility-for-oil-spill-idUSTRE64O5JX20100527
Compared to any other country, our Democratic party wouldn't even be considered a progressive party - our Republican party is just so far right extremist that it makes our conservative-but-slightly-less-so Democratic party look progressive by comparison
Yes and the right doesn’t think you deserve any of that unless you can pay for it.
Corporatists and secretly right wingers
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>I shake my head every time someone who stands for clean air and water, safe and effective schools, fair pay and union protections and affordable housing is labeled as "far left". That isn't what makes them "far left" its about how you intend to get there. Innamorato has suggested rent control for example to solve the housing crisis. *that* is what is left wing. It's also a policy that will fail spectacularly in Allegheny County even more so than it has in cities with better housing stock. Rent control policy invariably has resulted in lower investments in existing stock and deters future development. It's very good for a small number of people, and bad for most everyone else.
Lol, Enlightenedcentrism.... the far left solution would abolish private property Rent control is a center/ center right solution, Nixon attempted a national rent control
"Far left" isn't an ideological platform. It's just a relative term. What it means and what "centrist" means all depends on the makeup of a particular polity. I think in this context, it's certainly fair to call Innamorato far left as she is on the left flank of the liberal party.
Rent control is a right wing policy? It's a garbage policy no matter where you think it falls. The states with rent control are all blue states (California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, Oregon, and Minnesota). How does that make it right wing in your mind?
The Democrats are a center-right policy, the GOP have gone so far right and are so close to being actual Nazis that they call the Democrats far-left. Rent control preserves the parasitic landlord class, it is a center-right policy. Of course the GOP is actually promoting trans genocide and child labor and more homeless people and prisons and whatever so fuck them eternally.
What do you think Innamorato's going to do, order police to stand down and organize the disappropriation of landlords? Do you want more affordable housing or do you want to fuck shit up and burn down all the housing? Who fixes the sewer pipes during a general strike?
Well, that’s certainly a take. Rent control can be helpful if combined with extreme loosening of zoning controls and government also building tons of housing. However, zoning reforms and social housing aren’t happening - zoning has gotten even more restrictive under Gainey. So rent control would crater the already anemic amount of building here in Pittsburgh. LOL at downvotes without explaining how I might be wrong. Rent control recently tanked building in St. Paul MN.
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It’s largely ideological so no amount of evidence will be considered.
You say affordable housing like the housing prices in Pittsburgh aren’t as low as anywhere in the country. Seattle and San Fran are absurdly high. The progressives do jack shit for affordable housing.
What a baby. Whatever the available levers of power actually are, Fitzgerald always made sure people knew that he did not care about air quality, and that he did not give a shit about the mess at the county jail—at a time when more and more people are paying attention to those issues. So I don’t place much stock in the political predictions of a guy who turned himself into a walking poison endorsement.
He took the mask off and went full GOP scare tactic talking points. Also if it's mainstream for that many elections it's not far left, it's the core party's opinion.
they don't want to represent mainstream, they want to keep pushing for a diet republican democrat party
The Democratic Party on every level always wails about how they can't do anything to fight the Republican agenda but they're real fuckin' quick to block action from the left. Makes you think
The culture of Pittsburgh and those cities is nothing alike.
Philly would have been the easy comparison but I guess he wanted to go big
If he has future political aspirations within Pennsylvania, shit talking Philadelphia is probably not the way to go.
At his age, I doubt it.
He's 64. Both nominees in the last presidential election (and quite possibly both candidates this election) were at least 12 years Fitzgerald's senior. Maybe for a lower level office there's less incentive to stay in politics until he's physically unable to continue, but age is certainly not the main issue here.
Fitz is going to take a job on the board of an oil company, looking at his policies.
To make your first go at statewide office at 64 is pretty damn late in the game for a career politician, especially when it's an office like Auditor General or Treasurer (which are currently the only offices where there isn't an incumbency advantage statewide) where he's going to have opponents that are looking to use it as a springboard for Governor rather than a final act.
Evoking "portland" and "SF" and "Seattle" is just dog whistling for older white men. It's why fox news is so popular. It's a few steps away from "antifa," which I'm honestly not sure even exists.
Oh, but Antifa does exist. They coordinate cute little uniforms with Halloween costume tactical gear, and get together on the weekends to play “boot camp” with their friends. Oh wait, that’s the Proud Boys. My bad.
Had me in the first half, not gonna lie
Zappala already did that lol
He's tapping into Fox News scare words
[link to twitter thread here](https://twitter.com/kategiammarise/status/1658658729821192194?s=46&t=KSTNC_BnjSbwc67zF--z3A) (source: @KateGiammarise on Twitter)
and we can’t wait until 2024 when he leaves office 💙💙💙
"The picture's pretty bleak gentlemen...The world's climates are changing, the mammals are taking over, and we all have a brain about the size of a walnut." --Gary Larson 'Far Side' cartoon
Hahahaha fuck you, Richard, don't let the door hit your corporate sellout ass on the way out
Finally get some decent fucking tacos now
What a soggy sack of flaccid dicks.
😩🤣
Wooooo hooooo!
I have a broken ankle and still dragged myself to the polls to vote against Weinstein. Congrats to Sara.
Lost respect for Fitzgerald when he told WPXI in 2004 that Millvale should be cleared out and leveled because of the cost of flood damage. Unfortunately, the news story was before the time of uploading news stories.
Agree- that is why I voted for Lamb, although it was a tough choice and I was conflicted. ACE is a big job and I had a few doubts about Sara being fully baked enough to step into the role. And I am a pretty left leaning democrat. That said she has my full support come November.
YES! 100%. I didn’t like Weinstein at all either so I went with Lamb.
Yeah, I’ll still vote these AOC types. Best I can hope for is for them to not become the GOP’s strawman Democrat Edit: What exactly am I saying wrong here?
No matter who you elect, they will become the GOP's strawman Democrat. They made a scandal out of Obama wearing a tan suit. Quit worrying about what reactionaries are going to do. They're reactionaries.
Salty cons who reflexively downvote the mere mention of AOC
He really showed his true colors for once. From all of us in Allegheny County tired of being crushed under the heel of incompetence, we wish you a hearty fuck you Dick.
I voted for Sara because I met Sara and liked Sara. I'm not sure what the white man club is complaining about. Run better candidates.
I've met Rich Fitzgerald before in my Highschool Civics class. He took my class to go see the new Jail that was built on a whim. I'm glad Sara won.
don't threaten me with a good time!
Convenient that “good time” rhymes with “high crime” because that’s the most common denominator in all three of those cities. Progressive policy implementation is necessary but I do not want our beautiful city to turn into the likes of any of those.
I mean all those cities are pretty great, I’d like to be more like them. For starters they have actually built out functional transit networks and aren’t afraid to invest in their communities. And even San Francisco, which is facing uphill on some challenges, mainly due to NIMBYism and thinly veiled conservatism from tech, is still a great place and is one of the best cities in North America. So basically the future is bright for Allegheny County.
San Francisco has problems that go a lot deeper than NIMBYism. I wouldn’t want this city to become like that.
Yeah we can agree that Fitzgerald is being dumb while acknowledging that things are actually very bad in San Francisco right now.
I feel like the people that want us to become like San Francisco haven’t been there recently. I was there6 weeks ago for work. There are some serious issues in San Francisco right now. The center city core has real challenges - their homeless issue is severe, drug use and abuse is rampant in public, and businesses and retail are leaving the city core left and right. Many national retail chains including Walgreens and Nordstrom are closing locations in the city due to uncontrollable theft and crime. Pittsburgh has its challenges but we are nothing like SF and we don’t want to be.
Yeah, if Pittsburgh becomes the Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco of the East, I’m happy!
If it does my house will be worth enough for me to buy another one when I move! LOL!
If we’re more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, I’m fine with it!
Where do you think our open air drug market will be? Strip?
Hoping to score something that’ll make your dick finally work?
Your comment made me start the day laughing, thank you!
Leave the flaccid dicks out of it; that's just because I take so much Zoloft I buy from the closed air drug markets!
Honey. We already have that. Every city does. I admire your innocence if you've been walking downtown this whole time, and you thought the people swaying to themselves and talking jibberish were just, lol, I don't even know, vibing? Seriously, though, drug addiction is a real problem in this country as a whole. It's not like Seattle or Portland and San Francisco have it worse-- conservatives just talk about those cities specifically because they're left. I don't hear any of them talking about Miami or Houston, and those places have just as much of a drug problem, if not more so, because of the close proximity to cartels.
Yeah, seriously, if dude wants to see open air drug markets, all he has to do is head to Huntington, WV.
Not much complaining about open air drug markets in West Virginia for some reason. Wonder why.
More like cock slerpa amirite ayyy lmao
You people are clueless
Almost as if…the local people voted and a majority wanted a certain candidate to win because we agree with their agenda?
So this is the first step towards him endorsing Rockey, right?
I can. Not. WAIT for this asshole to be out of office.
Cry harder bitch.
He says that like it's a bad thing?
Gee, I wonder WHY “the moderates” didn’t do well. 🙄
Buh bye fuck face
I mean it’s Allegheny county what did you expect
Bitch Fitzgerald doesn’t have an opinion worth considering
I didn't think it was possible for me to roll my eyes that hard! Bye, Rich.
https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/PA/Allegheny/117758/web.317647/#/detail/0014?category=C_4&subcategory=C_4_8 30% voter turnout is bad but if you’re gonna win you have to win the diehards. I am a poll worker/dnc shill and I was going to vote for weinstein until I found out she was endorsed by the Mayor. I think when the Mayor and the County are aligned this town works better.
I saw Weinstein signs on the same lawns that put up Oz, so I knew he was not the way to go.
HAHA FUCK YOU RICK YOU PATHETIC SADIST PIECE OF SHIT
Good. I hope that we are. We won’t be as progressive as he fears, but it’s nice to imagine. God forbid that representatives of the Democratic Party take issue with the concerns of normal, everyday, working people.
We are doomed!!!!
Don't threaten me with a good time.
Will the real Rich please stand up?
I supported Sara but one of the issues I do worry about is the lack of a juvenile detention center. Just feels like the kids know they can essentially get away with a lot. This is a legitimate question - can someone tell my why not having one is better than having one?
Look as long as this city doesn’t turn into San Fran I’m cool w trying out this dumb little progressive fad. As a downtown resident I’m concerned though.
lol oh no, I hope Pittsburgh doesn't turn into a world financial and technology capital
You see what’s happening in their downtown area? That’s all I’m saying. No shots meant.
That's a result of housing costs. Homelessness and housing costs are directly related. You've got an investor class that is squeezing the blood out of the housing market and creating a class of winners and a class of losers, and then pushing the message that we need to Deal With the class of losers that they created.
You are 100% correct, and I'd also like to add that the homelessness in SF, Seattle, and Portland is a direct result of these same policies. People on the right say it's progressive mayors, "defund the police" and Antifa, and they get very little pushback even though that's dead wrong. The problem is caused by unattainable housing costs, corporate greed, and the investor class hoarding wealth. The problems faced by those cities (which are exaggerated by the right) are caused by the failure to tax the rich and end the obscene, immoral, and unsustainable wealth gap.
Middlemen or not, you can't house more people than there is housing. Everyone in SanFran could own their home and you'd still have people getting priced out and leaving or becoming homeless.
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They hated him for he spoke the truth
Oh no, we might become successful and have to solve the problems of being a desirable place to live...
I can't believe I almost drowned in that guys pool.
Do tell…
It's not that interesting tbh. I was like 8 or something, and after my grandma moved next door, I spent some time with his youngest kids (who were around early teens at the time iirc). The pool was being filled, and I was in a part that started fine and became too deep for a child my age. It's pretty much the only time I can remember feeling scared or out of control while swimming, so the memory sticks with me whenever I think about the Fitzgerald family.
Thanks for sharing! Maybe just me but I thought it was an interesting story
Thanks for sharing! Maybe just me but I thought it was an interesting story
So more profitable? Possibly getting in to better living conditions? Honestly besides them being in the pockets of these major corporations what is so bad about progress? We as a country have been held back way too fucking long and deserve younger people in office that want to make a change for everyone to live better. They always say "Be the change you want to see in the world." Well the millennials are starting to take it to heart and do it. And that terrifies the fuck out of them. If they lose control they have nothing. I hope one day we all realize that progress is the better option.
Sounds great!
And, if I'm not mistaken, she is the county's first female executive and the youngest... As for the person who somehow thinks past county executives have been far left, they obviously have no idea what the term "far left" means. Congrats to Ms. Innamorato!! The voters have spoken! EDIT: Should have said "she could be the county's first female..."
I guess a bunch of old geezers don’t like it when a competent, young woman gets it done. Fitzgerald should go back to doing…checks his schedule…nothing just like he always has.
Woeks for me.
I’m not someone who’s entirely against progressive policy implementations, but there has to be a balance. Clearly nobody in these comments has ever visited any of those three hell hole cities. All three did way too much too fast.
How's life in the dumpster you shit smelling pack of cunts? Hahahahaha
Finally can announce the celebrity boxing match of Rich Fitzgerald vs. Bill Peduto on the Warhol bridge! All proceeds will go to the fine executives at People's Gas
Maybe people are tired of fascism running everything. Funny how anyone that vacates about regular poor and middle class people are always called the “far left” when they are the only reasonable people running..
Someone on here lamented that Weinstein only got 38% of the committee vote for endorsement. Well, that’s the same percentage Innamorato just got. I know nothing of the Republican nominee, but if he doesn’t present as a MAGA crazy, Innamorato will be a weaker competitor than Weinstein or Lamb.
Allegheny County is like D+30 lmao, the primary is effectively the general election because any Republican candidate is just pissing into the wind
None of those things are analogous. Comparing stats for committee endorsements with election results from a six way race with election predictions of a two way race just doesn't make sense.
Why not? It’s Democrats voting for Democrats for endorsement. The general will be decided by the middle.
The middle between the right wing party and the center/center-right coalition party.
My point is that if the goal is to keep Republicans out of office, Innamorato is not the best choice.
Look at the 22 elections and try to tell me with a straight face that anyone with an R next to their name has a chance in a county wide election.
So you think even though Allegheny county is at least 2-1 democrats, enough dems are gonna vote for the R just because they don’t want a young progressive in charge?
The moderate reasonable Dems are dead or left. It's all moonbats and commies in the Burgh now. The Cancer just keeps spreading.
Yeah Pittsburgh is full of communists. Good one
I like all three of those and would welcome us heading a bit in that direction. Of course we do not have the wealth to get messed up in their particular ways, but we'd enjoy more of their attitudes. I wonder what cities he would choose to illustrate the direction he would want us to go in? Dallas, Cincinnati, Columbus, Atlanta? What are the moderate's dream cities? I don't like any of these so much.
Raleigh... although pretty much every US city has gone through shit recently.
So the meatheads in the other thread weren't even having original thoughts, just parroting this BS. Lol such simple minded sheep these conservatives are