Familiar face wins race in East End
Strassburger gets seat on city council
By a decisive margin Tuesday, East End voters chose Erika Strassburger to succeed Dan Gilman on Pittsburgh City Council, opting for a familiar face in city hall.
Unofficial results in District 8 showed Ms. Strassburger, 35, of Squirrel Hill, with a wide lead over restaurateur Sonja Finn of Point Breeze, businessman and LGBT activist Martin Healey of Shadyside and corporate relations manager Rennick Remley of Squirrel Hill. With all 34 precincts reporting, Ms. Strassburger commanded 64 percent of the vote.
Although Ms. Finn carried the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic district, Ms. Strassburger captured support from Mayor Bill Peduto, Mr. Gilman and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. That backing “helped open doors,” said Ms. Strassburger, who was chief of staff in the District 8 office under Mr. Gilman.
At a victory party in Shadyside,
she said the endorsements “absolutely helped me meet people, have the ability to meet more neighbors and do the job that I needed to do as a candidate.”
“I want to continue the excellent constituent services. I think that’s what neighbors here expect and deserve. That’s going to be a big hallmark of my term,” Ms. Strassburger said. She also pointed to quality-of-life issues such as traffic and parking, along with improvements at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, among her priorities.
Mr. Gilman triggered the special election in January, when he left council to join the Peduto administration as mayoral chief of staff. Residents had granted Mr. Gilman a second four-year council term in November. Running unopposed, he landed 99 percent of the vote.
The Gilman and Peduto political committees gave $5,000 apiece to Ms. Strassburger, a Democrat who campaigned as an independent after she and Mr. Healey each lost the party’s nomination.
While Ms. Finn, 38, positioned herself as a pragmatist — urging more money for affordable housing, for instance — Ms. Strassburger touted her first-hand knowledge of city government and the nuances of governing.Ms. Strassburger also held a substantial financial edge, drumming up about $143,000 for her bid, according to campaign disclosures filed with the city. Her endorsers included a slew of unions, such as city firefighters and paramedics.
None of the other candidates saw even a third of Ms. Strassburger’s fundraising haul. Mr. Remley secured nearly $39,000; Ms. Finn, nearly $32,000; and Mr. Healey, just more than $13,000, the city filings show.
Ms. Finn, who claimed second place Tuesday with about 28 percent of the vote, said “money and influence” played big parts in the outcome. Her endorsements, among others, came from the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers and county Controller Chelsa Wagner, a reliable adversary of both Mr. Peduto and Mr. Fitzgerald.
“I think there are people who think power in this city is held by three men,” Ms. Finn said. “I think it’s held by 300,000 people.”
Shesaid the race “went as it was expected to go before I got into the arena, with the council seat being handed down. But a lot of things wouldn’t have come to light if I hadn’t brought up some of these issues. Even just in terms of what we can do in the city — gun control, making the Amazon bid more transparent, universalpre-K education.”
About 14.5 percent of 31,983 registered voters turned out in the district, which comprises Shadyside and parts of Squirrel Hill, Point Breeze and Oakland. Mr. Remley, 35, the sole Republican in the race, took about 7 percent of the vote, while Mr. Healey, 54, claimed about 1 percent.
Mr. Healey said all three of his rivals ran with class and dignity. He said he supports Ms. Strassburger, who worked several years for the PennEnvironment advocacy group before joining the District 8 office.
She will take center stage April 5 — the anticipated swearing-in date, according to city Clerk Brenda Pree. The annual salary for each of the nine council members is $66,371.
“Erika has done a great job inthe past four years [as chief of staff] and I’m interested to see how she leads,” Mr. Remley said. “I might be willing to serve as her chief of staff. So I canrun in eight years.”