Field grows to replace retiring Mustio
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Among Republicans, the race to replace state Rep. Mark Mustio in the airport-area suburbs is getting as crowded as the skies over Pittsburgh International during the holiday season.
The latest candidate in the 44th District is Valerie Gaydos, a business owner and investor in tech firms from Aleppo.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Ms. Gaydos called herself “pro-life, pro-growth, probusiness,” saying she was “a conservative, tried and true. And I have been all my life.”
In an interview Tuesday evening, Ms. Gaydos said she was motivated by the feeling that “there’s a tremendous lack of business acumen” among elected officials.
And while this is her first run for office, she said she previously worked as an intern for the late U.S. Sen. H. John Heinz III and as an aide for former state Sen. D. Michael Fisher of Upper St. Clair.
Federal Election Commission records suggest that she has also supported Democratic causes in the past, including U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak, to whom she has given $2,500, including a $500 contribution as recently as 2016.
Ms. Gaydos, who appears to have also supported Republicans, including former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, said her giving reflects the fact that “we need to reach across the aisle and we don’t see enough of that. There’s too much infighting. … We’re all Pennsylvanians.”
She joins a field of candidates seeking to replace Mr. Mustio. The Republican announced last month that he was stepping down
after the end of his eighth term representing the district, which includes suburban communities west of Pittsburgh.
Other candidates include Bob Doddato, a North Fayette supervisor who announced his candidacy two weeks ago.
An accountant who touts fiscal improvements in North Fayette, Mr. Doddato issued a Jan. 30 statement calling himself “a constitutional conservative [who] will fight to protect Second Amendment rights for all Pennsylvanians” and who “is also strongly pro life.”
Moon supervisor David Bachman, who owns a home-building company, also announced his bid with a brief statement on Facebook Tuesday.
In an interview, Mr. Bachman said he is “more of a pragmatist than dogmatically conservative.” While he is “an adamant pro-life guy,” he said, he is willing “to look at decriminalization of marijuana.”
In his first term as a supervisor, he said, he helped hold the line on taxes while expanding street-paving efforts.
Republican Allegheny County Councilman Sam DeMarco, meanwhile, had planned to announce a run but decided against it last year.
Educator Michele Knoll, of Ohio Township, is the lone Democrat to declare her candidacy in the 44th District and is campaigning with a focus on education issues.
Having planned to challenge Mr. Mustio before his resignation, she has a head start on the other candidates: By the end of 2017, she had raised just under $ 20,000 from outside sources.