For voters in the 12-mile stretch from Liberty and Port Vue east of the Monongahela to the South Hills communities west of it, there only will be one name on the April primary ballot for Pennsylvania’s 38th legislative district: Democrat Nick Pisciottano.
Mr. Pisciottano, a 30-year-old accountant and lifelong West Mifflin resident, now stands alone after two Democrats, Victoria Schmotzer and Tony DiCenzo, withdrew from the primary this past week.
Although no Republicans filed in time to officially pursue the party’s nomination and have their names listed on the primary ballot, county GOP chair Sam DeMarco said Army veteran and five-term Whitehall councilwoman Linda Book will mount a write-in campaign. To get on the ballot in November against Mr. Pisciottano, Ms. Book would have to get at least 300 write-in votes.
For now, Mr. Pisciottano, a first-time political candidate, gets to share his story to voters without primary opposition — and is telling constituents he wants to focus on bringing economic investments into the Mon Valley and South Hills river communities after more than two decades of lagging behind the rest of Allegheny County.
None of that was Bill Kortz’s fault, said Mr. Pisciottano, adding that the outgoing Democratic state lawmaker did a “great job” at encouraging development in the years after the biggest economic downtown since the Great Depression.
“There’s only so much one person can do,” Mr. Pisciottano said.
Now, with the “current economic expansion we’re experiencing right now,” there’s more funding available to invest in the district, Mr. Pisciottano said.
Though registered Democrats currently outnumber Republicans by almost 2-to-1, the 38th, which stretches from the Mon Valley to Whitehall and parts of Baldwin, South Park and West Mifflin, voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
For 14 years, the district has been represented in Harrisburg by Mr. Kortz, who announced in January that he will retire at the end of the current legislative session. Mr. Kortz, 65, cited health issues.
Mr. Pisciottano helped Mr. Kortz on his campaigns, and said he was driven to run himself because he wants to fight for education and infrastructure funding, including for the construction of the next leg of the Mon-Fayette Expressway.
He called the project — which is expected to eventually extend the expressway from Duquesne to the Parkway East in Monroeville — a “once in a generation opportunity.”
But whoever succeeds Mr. Kortz also will have to face persisting air quality issues involving the nearby Clairton Coke Works facility, the subject of an $8.5 million class action settlement recently over U.S. Steel’s alleged negligence in allowing pollutants from its coking operations to affect Clairton and nearby communities.
Mr. Pisciottano said that although the air quality issues won’t be fixed overnight, U.S. Steel has “owned up to its mistakes.” The company plans to invest more than $1 billion into improvements it claims will better environmental performance and energy conservation at its facilities in Clairton, Braddock and West Mifflin.
Mr. Pisciottano said he’d approach the issue with a philosophy that his constituents have the right to clean air and the workers at U.S. Steel have the right to their jobs.
“It’s not a binary choice between a strong environment and strong business community,” Mr. Pisciottano said. “We can work together to make sure these environmental goals are met and health and safety goals are met without sacrificing the longstanding relationship U.S. Steel has had with the Mon Valley and the people who work in the Mon Valley.”
Pennsylvania’s primary elections are on April 28.
Julian Routh: jrouth@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1952, Twitter @julianrouth.
First Published: March 7, 2020, 7:36 p.m.
