PG Politics is written by Hallie Lauer, the Post-Gazette's city government and politics reporter. Each Wednesday, she'll take readers inside the halls of Grant Street and deliver unparalleled reporting on Pittsburgh City Council and the race for Pittsburgh mayor. You'll also see dispatches from our reporting teams all across Western Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
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In 2021, just 29% of registered voters cast a ballot in the mayoral primary. Remarkably, the 57,000 votes were a high-water mark for the city’s municipal elections.
Past mayoral elections saw turnout rates that hovered around the low 20% range, according to data from the county elections division. But calling a turnout of 29% high feels a bit disjointed — like trying to read a billboard without your glasses on.
Areas in Pennsylvania broke voter turnout records in 2020, a presidential election year, and Allegheny County saw about 71% of registered voters cast a ballot in the presidential election.
But for a Pittsburgh mayoral election, it is high relative to past elections. (A point to note: Pittsburgh’s mayoral general elections tend to have a voter turnout a few percentage points higher than the primary, likely because primary elections in Pennsylvania are closed so only registered Democrats or Republicans can vote).
Local pundits attributed the 2021 spike in turnout to a number of things: a desire for change among the electorate after civil unrest spurred by the murder of George Floyd, easier voting systems with the proliferation of mail-in ballots and record-high turnouts in the 2020 election.
Higher-than-normal turnout is likely to continue this year, which is good for democracy at large but doesn’t necessarily give one candidate an advantage.
Experts are anticipating a relatively high voter turnout for this year’s primary for several reasons.
The first: the race between incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey and challenger Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor is competitive. Longtime observers of Pittsburgh politics argue over whether it appears to be more competitive than 2021, when Mr. Gainey beat Mayor Bill Peduto in the primary, but competitive politics tends to bring voters out. Combine that with the fact that both men have significant name recognition among Pittsburgh Democrats, and the chances of high voter turnout go up even more.
But there are also measurable, backed-by-political-science studies that show turnout will be high for an off-year, off-cycle Pittsburgh election.
One of those, according to Carnegie Mellon professor Jonathan Cervas is that voting is habitual. Once people start voting, they tend to continue voting, he said. Mail-in voting removed a lot of the barriers, including registration, that a lot of voters cite as reasons they don’t participate.
Because of that, elections since 2020 have had relatively higher turnout than elections pre-2020, Mr. Cervas said.
All of these things, he said, indicated that this year’s primary election should be higher or at least on par with 2021 turnout.
Higher voter turnout indicates a more engaged electorate, particularly at the local level. Which is significant because local elections are where the politicians have the most impact on voters’ day-to-day lives.
Mayors decide how much money gets spent to fill potholes and plow the snow and can introduce legislation that can help reduce traffic crashes. They’re the ones negotiating contracts with public safety unions and tasked with the duty of maintaining critical infrastructure.
Voting has become viewed by people as “picking the lesser of two evils,” but at the local level, it really is a moment for residents to voice how they want their communities to be run.
Shapiro’s national TV appearances and then 2028 presidential race
Gov. Josh Shapiro, continuing his approach of sprinkling in national-level media appearances with his frequent stops at various locations around Pennsylvania, appeared Friday on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” show.
Widely acknowledged as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, didn’t hesitate to lay out strings of accomplishments in Pennsylvania and positions on major issues, candidate-style. During a segment when Mr. Shapiro and other guests responded to questions from the audience, it became so noticeable that Mr. Maher told Mr. Shapiro: “It’s only March of 2025. You’re going to get exhausted.”
Asked about the potential demise of the U.S. Department of Education, Mr. Shapiro turned his answer toward children.
“Here’s what I care about. I’ve got kids with special needs. I’ve got kids who are coming from poor families who rely on this funding from the federal government to have a shot in life,” he said.
He added, “The federal government made a compact with those kids. I hope they don’t break the compact with those kids.”
When pressed about the agency itself — and after Mr. Maher brought up massive amounts of questionable spending by the federal government — Mr. Shapiro said the Trump administration’s approach to the problem was wrong.
“First of all, I think it is important that we support the American people, not the American institutions. You are right that there is waste, there is fraud, there is abuse in these institutions. It should be rooted out,” Mr. Shapiro said.
A better approach, he suggested, might be one he used when he was a leader in Montgomery County, prior to his elections as attorney general, then governor. It was “zero-based” budgeting, in which agencies are told to start with a budget of zero, and then “build it up to where it needs to be,” he said.
In another aspect of recent headlines involving the Trump administration, Mr. Shapiro said a governor or a president should avoid interfering with the judicial branch of government.
“I think that is really important to give people the confidence in knowing that the system is fair, and that the system is just, and that the law will be applied without fear,” Mr. Shapiro said.
Mr. Shapiro isn’t the only Pennsylvania Democrat to have caught Mr. Maher’s attention.
Earlier this month, the comedian and commentator told his HBO “Real Time” audience that Sen. John Fetterman should top the Democrats’ 2028 presidential ticket.
“Voters aren’t really savvy about the issues, but they have made it clear what is important to them — authenticity, balls and charisma,” he said. “Trump has that package, and so does Fetterman.”
— Ford Turner
Trump to appear at NCAA wrestling championships in Philly
President Donald Trump is making his first public trip to Pennsylvania on Saturday since he took office, visiting Philadelphia to attend the NCAA wrestling championships.
The White House said the president plans to arrive in Philadelphia on Saturday evening.
A longtime wrestling fan, Trump during the presidential campaign brought the Penn State championship team onto the stage.
Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., a former West Point wrestler, also will attend, according to a spokesperson.
Since returning to the White House, Trump attended the Super Bowl — won by the Philadelphia Eagles — and the Daytona 500. Penn State is again favored in this year’s wrestling championships, which begin Thursday.
The visit comes after Trump in an executive order barred transgender women from playing in women’s sports. The NCAA — whose president, former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, did not vote for Trump in 2020 — almost immediately banned transgender women from women’s sports following Trump’s order.
— Benjamin Kail
First Published: March 20, 2025, 5:00 p.m.
Updated: March 21, 2025, 2:00 p.m.
