Both candidates for Allegheny County executive are making their closing arguments to voters in new advertisements before the Nov. 7 general election.
Democrat Sara Innamorato and Republican Joe Rockey were both airing new TV ads Monday. Ms. Innamorato’s ad, which primarily features Gov. Josh Shapiro, highlights her campaign’s focus on national issues like abortion, but also the county’s Board of Elections.
If Ms. Innamorato is elected, Mr. Shapiro says in the latest ad, she will protect the county “from extremists to keep our elections secure and fair.”
A greater focus on the Board of Elections, the body tasked with certifying Allegheny County’s election results, started earlier this month when Mr. Rockey took to social media to promise to “keep politics out of that department.” In the post, Mr. Rockey called on Ms. Innamorato to pledge a “hands-off policy” in regards to the board. Ms. Innamorato’s campaign has told voters that Republicans can’t be trusted to oversee the board in the wake of GOP efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Board of Elections is made up of three people —the two at-large County Council members and the county executive. As one of the at-large members, Sam DeMarco, the county GOP chair, sits on the board. If Mr. Rockey is elected, that would put two Republicans on the board.
State Sen. Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, who has donated to Ms. Innamorato’s campaign said that “election integrity is at stake” in this race. “For 1,000 reasons, it’s so important we elect [Ms. Innamorato] - but this is a huge one,” he said on social media.
Mr. Shapiro also says in the ad that Ms. Innamorato is “the only candidate I trust to defend a woman's right to choose.”
Abortion has been one of Ms. Innamorato’s most heavily emphasized campaign issues. In a recent social media post, Ms. Innamorato said that “our reproductive rights are on the ballot.” She has promised that she would enact shield laws to protect abortion providers from out-of-state investigations. And in other ads, she has pointed to the fact that Mr. Rockey won’t state his opinion on the matter as a reason not to vote for him.
In Mr. Rockey’s latest ad, he sticks to his centrist branding and focus on local issues.
“Allegheny County is facing big challenges bigger than politics,” he says in the 30-second spot. “If we put partisan anger aside and work together, everyone wins.”
He goes on to say that this election is about “three things: crime, property taxes, and jobs.” Mr. Rockey’s ads throughout the election have alternated between focusing on his plans to address these three issues and criticizing Ms. Innamorto’s as too liberal for Allegheny County.
A common theme between the candidates’ newest ads is avoiding extremism.
“Clear headed, common sense thinking, moderation, not extremes,” is how Mr. Rockey describes what his administration would be like in his ad.
And in Ms. Innamorato’s ad, Mr. Shapiro said that having her on the Board of Elections is a protection against extremes.
Throughout the campaign, both candidates have accused each other as being extreme in their politics. Mr. Rockey has specifically focused on Ms. Innamorato’s former affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America. Ms. Innamorato said earlier this month that she had left the group in 2019, remarks that came after criticism of the DSA’s response to the Hamas attack on Israel.
Ms. Innamorato has tried to more broadly link Mr. Rockey to the far-right of his party.
Mr. Rockey’s campaign has spent more than a million dollars on TV during the general election, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. He has also been bolstered by an outside political group called Save Allegheny County, which has spent about $632,000 on ads. Ms. Innamorato’s campaign has only spent about $372,000, according to AdImpact.
Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com
First Published: October 30, 2023, 3:58 p.m.
Updated: October 31, 2023, 3:31 p.m.