Although it’s unclear if he’ll accept the nomination and continue his run for Pittsburgh mayor, retired police Officer Tony Moreno won enough write-in votes on last week’s primary ballot to run as a Republican against Democratic nominee Ed Gainey in November.
Mr. Moreno, who pursued the Democratic nomination in a four-way primary but lost to the state lawmaker, received 1,379 write-in votes as a Republican, according to Allegheny County vote totals released late Tuesday. That’s enough to clear the threshold for write-in votes and get on the general election ballot — if he wants to.
Mr. Moreno wrote in a text message that he is on vacation and indicated he hasn’t yet made a decision on how to proceed.
Mayor Bill Peduto tallied 285 write-in votes as a Republican, so he could also technically pursue the nomination if Mr. Moreno declined. But Mr. Peduto said on the night of the election that he intends to work to elect Mr. Gainey as the next mayor of Pittsburgh.
Mr. Moreno spent more than two decades in Pittsburgh’s police department and — unlike the other Democratic candidates — ran his campaign on ideas that would expand police power not rein it in. In the primary, he garnered about 7,400 votes, or 13 percent of the vote share. Mr. Gainey beat Mr. Peduto by about a 46% to 39% margin.
Pittsburgh hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since the late 1920s.
The last time a Republican was on the ballot for mayor was 2013 when Mr. Peduto first won election. Josh Wander, the GOP’s candidate, won about 11 percent of the vote.
Mr. Moreno is a retired North Sider who had never run for political office before the primary. Born and raised in California before joining the U.S. Army, he joined the Pittsburgh police department in 1994. He has said he started on the North Side, worked his way into a detective’s role in the narcotics division, then finished his career walking a beat Downtown.
Julian Routh: jrouth@postgazette.com, 412-263-1952, Twitter @julianrouth.
First Published: May 26, 2021, 12:40 p.m.
Updated: May 26, 2021, 8:51 p.m.
