Bucking a prominent former state lawmaker with an institutional last name, Democratic voters in Allegheny County appeared to choose as their nominee for sheriff a chief deputy of the department who served two decades in the Pittsburgh Police bureau.
Kevin Kraus, who's in his eighth year as second-in-command of the sheriff's office, was ahead 50.9% to 48.5% over former state Rep. Dom Costa as of 5 p.m. Wednesday in a Democratic primary race that will almost certainly determine the winner of the position. No Republicans filed for the seat.
With 99% of precincts reporting, Mr. Kraus had received 78,716 votes to 75,038 for Mr. Costa, while 901 voters opted to write in another choice.
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ELECTION RESULTS: Click here for the latest Allegheny County tallies
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Mr. Kraus, of Ohio Township, boasted the backing of outgoing Sheriff Bill Mullen, as well as Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and the county Democratic committee. His pitch to voters was that he knows the department from the inside, already has the respect of officers and knows what it takes to do the job.
As a Pittsburgh officer for many years, Mr. Kraus spent 12 years as lieutenant of major crimes in the investigations branch and was spokesman for the bureau for another decade-plus.
Mr. Costa, of Stanton Heights, served several decades in law enforcement as well, and he aimed to leverage his time in the state House into a leadership role. He was a Pittsburgh police officer for 28 years, culminating in an appointment to chief of police. He retired from that position in 2007, served as public safety director for Penn Hills and then won a seat in the state House, which he held for 10 years before losing to Sara Innamorato in the 2018 Democratic primary.
A campaign official for Mr. Costa said late Tuesday night — at which point about 25% of the vote had yet to come in — that Mr. Costa and his team were still optimistic that they could pull ahead.
The official said around 11:10 p.m. that many of the precincts still to report are very friendly to him.
But as of Wednesday afternoon, with 99% of the votes counted, such a comeback looked rather unlikely.
Nick Trombola: ntrombola@post-gazette.com. Julian Routh: jrouth@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 19, 2021, 3:19 a.m.
Updated: May 19, 2021, 3:26 a.m.