When the councils governing the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County assemble in 2020, they'll each be without one of their most recognizable figures.
That's because even though city councilwoman Darlene Harris and county councilman John DeFazio have, in their own ways, become institutions in regional politics over decades of public service, it wasn't enough to overcome challenges from a pair of tech-savvy, message-driven candidates in Tuesday’s local primary elections.
For Bobby Wilson to beat Mrs. Harris and Bethany Hallam to defeat Mr. DeFazio, it took messages of change, a renewed vision and a fresh perspective -- and a no-holds-barred commitment to spreading those messages to every corner of the region and internet.
Going ‘everywhere’
Naomi Weisberg Siegel was at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh a few Fridays ago when Ms. Hallam showed up.
It was a weekly meeting of Ms. Siegel’s group to support worshipers at the center, a meeting that Ms. Hallam “heard through the grapevine” and decided to attend with her campaign manager.
"We talked as we were standing there, and I was impressed by her spirit and energy, but even more so by her progressive political positions," recalled Ms. Siegel, 61, of Fox Chapel.
Consider that one vote secured for Ms. Hallam.
The unannounced pop-in to the center underscored her strategy: compete everywhere. Be everywhere. If the 29-year-old office administrator from Ross was going to take down a longtime county council incumbent with high name recognition and establishment support, she’d have to out-work him in the community.
That meant attending several events each day.
"Any time someone invited me somewhere, I was there,” Ms. Hallam said. “Any time someone was hosting a community event, I was there.”
“I think it showed. I think the voters saw that, and that's how I ended up winning.” Ms. Hallam ended up with 55,234 votes, or 53 %, to Mr. DeFazio’s 47,847, or 46 %. Turnout in the countywide at-large race was around 18 %.
Mr. DeFazio, a fixture on council since it convened in 2000, had a monopoly on labor endorsements, as well as the backing of prominent local Democrats such as Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle. He had so much support, he thought, that it “just don’t make sense how I could possibly lose,” he said Tuesday night.
At the same time, Mr. DeFazio, 78, was barely active online. During a key stretch of the campaign in late March and early April, his campaign page posted only about the special election in Pennsylvania’s 37th Senatorial District, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NCAA wrestling championships.
Ms. Hallam’s blitz on social media and in the community — a constant barrage of events, endorsement announcements, canvasses and get-out-the-vote gatherings — allowed her to own her own story, one that her campaign manager said resonated with a diverse array of voters.
“It was 100 percent transparency. We held nothing back,” said manager Darwin Leuba. “We said, ‘this is who she is. This is why she’s running. What do you think?’ These aren’t campaign things. This is just about being yourself and being authentic.”
In the lead-up to the election, Ms. Hallam ramped up her posts. On Election Day, she went live on Facebook from several polling locations, reminding people to vote.
"You can spend $100,000 on a mailer to talk about yourself or you can do a robocall and call everybody across the county without actually talking to them,” Ms. Hallam said. “On social media, there’s that interaction.”
She added, "I truthfully think that was one of the deciding factors of the campaign."
Once she had interaction face-to-face or on social media, Ms. Hallam was able to pitch her background as an outsider with new ideas and as a recovering opioid addict, which connected with voters like Ms. Siegel. Ms. Hallam often said her time in the Allegheny County Jail for a probation violation would help her offer a needed perspective on council.
"I was very impressed with her openness about her battle with opioid addiction,” Ms. Siegel said. “She knows it's not a battle that is ever over, and that gives her a view of humanity that is compassionate and open. I'm in my 60s and it's taken me decades to understand that we are all flawed and struggling, but Bethany seems to have learned this lesson a lot sooner."
A laborious task
With the help of his union, Tommy Magana was finally able to influence change in a North Side election.
The 58-year-old commercial office cleaner, who was raised on Federal Street and now resides in Troy Hill, said he was getting tired of “nothing getting done” in the 1st City Council District.
But with his SEIU 32BJ service-workers union backing Mr. Wilson in the election, he believed the challenger had a chance.
"No matter who tries to challenge [Mr. Wilson] in the fall. 32BJ will be there to see the fight through," Mr. Magana said. "There are a lot of members who sacrificed and volunteered to knock on these doors to get the change we need and we will get the job done.”
Labor was pivotal to Mr. Wilson’s primary victory, providing volunteers who knocked on several thousand doors and garnered him a grassroots network of supporters.
But beyond that, Mr. Wilson, 36, was able to take that labor support and the support of Mayor Bill Peduto, add his own proclivity for social media mobilizing and run a campaign that — like Ms. Hallam’s — was “everywhere” in the district.
He took his pro-worker platform — that it’s important to “move more jobs into unions” and get good pay for everyone — to numerous candidate events. Since he announced his run in early January, he blitzed the district with appearances, canvassing and fundraising appeals while constantly communicating with his growing network on Facebook.
"Every district wants to see that their representative is going to be visible and transparent, and that they’re really working hard," said Mr. Wilson, a technician at a university research center.
In between advertisements for weekend canvassing runs, Mr. Wilson recapped debate performances, and used such opportunities to link to a Google Doc soliciting volunteers and campaign donations. Mr. Wilson's father knocked on doors. The 32BJ union sent out mailers in the final weeks that said, “It’s time for the North Side to get our fair share."
His presence at events and online resonated with supporters.
"He promises to work with communities and listen to people in a community-driven way," said Kelly Day, a 41-year-old supporter who lives in Brighton Heights. "It's time to move forward and break that legacy chain."
Ms. Day pointed out that Mr. Wilson has been "actively engaging with neighbors all over the North Side for years now."
And the campaigning may not yet be over. Mr. Wilson will likely face challenges from two independent candidates: Chris Rosselot, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, and Quincy Kofi Swatson, have both indicated they'd pursue bids.
And while Mr. Wilson was working to make sure he was visible online, Mrs. Harris was mostly absent there.
Not once did she post about the election on her Facebook pages. On May 10, when Mr. Wilson was sharing a link to a campaign survey he -- and he alone -- filled out for Bike Pittsburgh, Mrs. Harris was posting about her appreciation of nurses, unrelated to the campaign.
By the end of Tuesday night, Mr. Wilson had won the primary with 2,522 votes — or 57 % — to Ms. Harris’s 1,443 votes, or 32 %. Turnout in the district of 17,285 registered voters was about 26 %.
In an interview in her office Wednesday after the city council meeting, Ms. Harris said, however, that she’s not sad.
“I think I've done over my years quite a bit for the communities on the North Side. I still have until the end of the year."
Ashley Murray of the Post-Gazette contributed to this report.
Julian Routh: jrouth@post-gazette.com and on Twitter @JulianRouth.
First Published: May 23, 2019, 12:12 a.m.
