Top aide to Fitzgerald launches campaign for state House seat
Austin Davis, a top aide to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, is gearing up to seek an office of his own: the 35th District state House seat being vacated by state Rep. Marc Gergely.
“The valley is at a unique point in its history and we need a strong state representative to help move it forward,” Mr. Davis said. “For me to live in McKeesport my whole life and not use the resources I have to make people’s lives better would be a mistake.”
Mr. Gergely’s days in his Monongahela Valley office have been numbered since his August guilty plea to charges stemming from his involvement in an illegal gambling-machine operation.
Mr. Davis said that he would “be a lot more visible in the district and in Harrisburg” than Mr. Gergely. “I think my position in the party and having worked for the county executive gives me a unique platform and a visible profile.”
As Mr. Fitzgerald’s executive assistant, Mr. Davis has been a liaison to other elected officials and serves on several boards, including the Jail Oversight Board and the Allegheny County Housing Authority board, where he is vice chairman.
Mr. Davis bills himself as “a strong Democrat that will stand up for working-class people and public education” — values extolled on the website his campaign rolled out Tuesday. Some positions may not endear him to environmentalists, however: Mr. Davis backs the long-stalled, and long-controversial, Mon-Fayette Expressway toll road project, and espouses “the continuing growth of the Marcellus Shale industry.”
“TheMarcellus industry is important to jobs down in the valley,” he said, largely through the manufacture of steel tubing used in gas wells. As for the Mon-Fayette road, he said, “I think the people who oppose it most likely don’t live in the district. I don’t think it’s going to solve every problem, but it’s a significant step forward” in providing better transportation access to manufacturing and otherbusinesses.
The 35th includes a number of struggling communities and their neighbors, among them Clairton, Duquesne, McKeesport, Munhall and White Oak.
Mr. Gergely is to be sentenced Nov. 6. He’s expected to step down by that point, at which time House Speaker Mike Turzai would have 10 days to set a date for a special election not sooner than 60 days after that. That timeline would put the election in early 2018. Prior to that, Democratic committeepeople in the district would gather to select a candidate to run as the party’s nominee.
“I know there are a few others who’ve said they may run,” Mr. Davis said. “I don’t think I’ll have it all to myself.”
Mr. Davis would appear well-positioned to be the party’s pick. He’s the vice chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, and along with his ties to Mr. Fitzgerald, arguably the county’s leading Democrat, he claims backing of leading Democrats such as Congressman Mike Doyle, Mon Valley state Sen. Jim Brewster, and Democratic Senate leader JayCosta.
It’s been a busy month for Mr. Davis: He and his wife, Blayre Holmes, were married less than two weeks prior to Tuesday’s announcement.
“She was obviously disappointed to put off the honeymoon for a little while,” he said. “but I actually didn’t have to sell her too hard [on the campaign]. She believes in public service, too.”