Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania city council elections, 2013

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2013 Pittsburgh elections
Election dates
Primary election: May 21, 2013 General election: November 5, 2013
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor, city council
Total seats up: 6 (click here for the mayoral election)
Election type: Partisan

The city of Pittsburgh held city council elections on November 5, 2013. The Pittsburgh City Council is composed of nine members, all elected by district. Seats for districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 were on the ballot. A special election to fill the council's District 7 vacancy was also held on November 5, 2013.

Candidates

General election

The following are the official results of the city council contests.

City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (District 2), 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Theresa Smith Incumbent	98.1%	3,980
	Nonpartisan	Write-in	1.9%	76
Total Votes				4,056
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (District 4), 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Natalia Rudiak Incumbent	74.4%	4,049
	Republican	Samuel J. Hurst	24.9%	1,355
	Write-in	Write-in	0.7%	40
Total Votes				5,444
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (District 6), 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	R. Daniel Lavelle Incumbent	98.3%	2,889
	Nonpartisan	Write-in	1.7%	50
Total Votes				2,939
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (District 8), 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Dan Gilman	89.4%	4,211
	Republican	Mordecai D. Treblow	10.4%	488
	Nonpartisan	Write-in	0.2%	11
Total Votes				4,710
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

District 7 special election

On November 5, 2013, a special election was held to select a replacement for District 7 councilman Patrick Dowd. Dowd resigned his seat in the summer of 2013 to lead a nonprofit education organization. According to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, turnout for special elections such as this has historically been low. The district's Democratic committee members elect the party's nominee by secret ballot. According to the Post-Gazette, a Democratic nominee has only lost a city council special election once before.

The following candidates appeared on the special election ballot.

• Tony Ceoffe (Ceoffe for Council)
• James Wudarczyk (Independent)
• Deborah L. Gross (Democratic)
• David E. Powell (Libertarian)
• Tom Fallon (Friends for Fallon)

City Council of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (District 7), 2013
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Deborah L. Gross	61%	4,514
	Libertarian	David E. Powell	2.3%	171
	Ceoffe for Council	Tony Ceoffe	25.4%	1,878
	Friends for Fallon	Tom Fallon	5.8%	429
	Independent	James Wudarczyk	5.5%	404
	Nonpartisan	Write-in	0.1%	8
Total Votes				7,404
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Primary election

Democratic primaries

On May 21, 2013, Theresa Smith (District 2), Natalia Rudiak (District 4), Robert Daniel Lavelle (District 6) and Dan Gilman (District 8) won their respective primary bids. Smith (who ran unopposed), Rudiak and Lavelle were incumbents. Bill Peduto, the incumbent councilman for District 8, elected not to seek another term, instead choosing to focus on his ultimately successful bid for the Democratic nomination for mayor.

Pittsburgh City Council, District 2 Democratic Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Theresa Smith	98.1%	3,790
Write-in	1.9%	74
Total Votes		3,864
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Pittsburgh City Council, District 4 Democratic Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Natalia Rudiak	52.3%	3,238
Johnny Lee	47.6%	2,950
Write-in	0.1%	4
Total Votes		6,192
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Pittsburgh City Council, District 6 Democratic Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Robert Daniel Lavelle	53.3%	2,036
Franco Dok Harris	17.5%	668
Tonya D. Payne	28.9%	1,105
Write-in	0.2%	8
Total Votes		3,817
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Pittsburgh City Council, District 8 Democratic Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Dan Gilman	59%	2,954
Sam Hens-Greco	25%	1,249
Jeanne K. Clark	15.9%	795
Write-in	0.1%	7
Total Votes		5,005
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Republican primaries

No candidates filed for the Republican primaries in Districts 2 and 6. The winning candidates for Districts 4 and 8 (Samuel J. Hurst and Mordecai D. Treblow, respectively) ran unopposed.

Pittsburgh City Council, District 4 Republican Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Samuel J. Hurst	91.6%	417
Write-in	8.4%	38
Total Votes		455
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Pittsburgh City Council, District 8 Republican Primary, 2013
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mordecai D. Treblow	90.5%	237
Write-in	9.5%	25
Total Votes		262
Source: Allegheny County Elections Division

Relevant issues

Economic development

District 4 Republican nominee Hurst argued that city government should not play a role in economic development, proposing instead that this is the province of the private sector. Conversely, according to an endorsement by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Democratic nominee and incumbent Rudiak has, in her tenure as councilwoman, "actively solicited business owners, developers and philanthropic leaders to invest in the communities that make up District 4."

Act 47 state oversight status

Since December 2003, Pittsburgh has been classified by Pennsylvania state government as a "financially distressed municipality" under the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act (Act 47). Act 47 "empowers the [state] Department of Community and Economic Development to declare certain municipalities as financially distressed, provides for the restructuring of debt of financially distressed municipalities, limits the ability of financially distressed municipalities to obtain government funding, authorizes municipalities to participate in Federal debt adjustment actions and bankruptcy actions under certain circumstances and provides for consolidation or merger of contiguous municipalities to relieve financial distress."

District 7 councilwoman-elect Gross and candidate Powell favored continuing Act 47 status, while the three remaining candidates argued that state fiscal oversight should be lifted.

About Pittsburgh

According to the 2012 U.S. Census estimate, Pittsburgh was the 61st largest city with a population of 306,211. There are nine city council members, all of whom are elected by district. The city follows a mayor-council form of government. The mayor earns an annual salary of $108,000. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Pittsburgh's unemployment rate as of July 2013 was 7.5%, compared to the state rate of 7.8% and the national rate of 7.7%.

See also

• Pittsburgh mayoral election, 2013

External links

• Pittsburgh City Council
• Allegheny County, PA Elections Division