• Fitzgerald, Wagner roll to easy victories in top county races, Local News,
Both sweep to their third terms in office; county executive gets visit from Biden
A quiet campaign for two of the county’s most influential political positions ended in commanding victories for the Democratic incumbents Tuesday, with a surprise visit from the former vice president of the United States at one election night party.
As county Executive Rich Fitzgerald and county Controller Chelsa Wagner swept to third terms in office against underfunded Republicans, Mr. Fitzgerald’s party got a visit from
Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, who was in town for a private fundraiser earlier in the evening.
Mr. Biden arrived to the IBEW Local Union 5 hall in South Side shortly after 9:30 p.m., shook hands and snapped pictures with attendees and took the podium to praise Mr. Fitzgerald and Democrats in Western Pennsylvania.
“I just want to remind you all: as goes Allegheny County, so goes the country,” Mr. Biden told a room of Fitzgerald supporters and local Democratic officials.
Earlier in the evening, Mr.
Fitzgerald had been a guest of Mr. Biden’s at a private fundraiser for the former vice president’s campaign.
At this party, Mr. Fitzgerald played host.
“I was a county official. I wasn’t the executive. I was just a councilman,” Mr. Biden said, looking over to Mr. Fitzgerald. “I ran for the United States Senate because it was too hard to be in the council.”
With just over 80% of precincts counted in Tuesday’s municipal elections as of 10:15 p.m., the two held insurmountable leads; Mr. Fitzgerald was up by more than 80,000 over former county councilman Matt Drozd, while Ms. Wagner held a 62,000-vote advantage over local GOP committeewoman Brooke Nadonley.
Ms. Wagner, 42, won her race despite facing an impending court trial in Detroit a week after Election Day on a felony charge of resisting and obstructing police — stemming from an encounter with Detroit police in March. She told the Post-Gazette last week she isn’t concerned that the trial — set to begin Nov. 12 — will impact her
ability to perform the job and fully expects a favorable outcome.
Instead, Ms. Wagner told voters to re-elect her because she has been ahead of the curve on issues — like oversight of the county police — and has worked to do what’s right even when it was unpopular with the establishment of her own party.
“I think what I’ve worked on doing for the past eight years is ensuring that the county controller is really an independent fiscal watchdog, and I think in this era personally, it’s ever more important and I believe many of the voters think that as well,” Ms. Wagner said Tuesday evening as the results showed her holding a commanding lead.
Mr. Fitzgerald, 60, argued that because his office has built consensus between a number of regional interests, the county’s economy has continued an upward swing — its bond rating at its highest since 1983 and a balanced budget each year without raising property taxes.
“I think it shows that the administration we have put together has gotten a lot of positive things done,” Mr. Fitzgerald said, adding that he’s proud to be the first person to serve three terms as county executive and to be re-elected in “overwhelming fashion.”
He massively out-fundraised his opponent, while Mr. Drozd relied entirely on roadside campaigning, holding signs in front of passing cars.
“Basically, we didn’t expect to win it because he has all the money. [That’s] the bottom line,” Mr. Drozd said Tuesday night.
Mr. Drozd’s signs told voters all there was to know about his campaign: that he wanted to “Cut Taxes,” put “People Before Party,” institute “Term Limits” and “End Corruption,” accusing the incumbent of awarding political favors for campaign contributions and of falling short in being transparent with county residents.
Ms. Wagner’s opponent, too, didn’t build much of a campaign infrastructure.
She didn’t maintain a campaign social media presence and didn’t try to raise money, using her personal Facebook page instead to talk to voters and blast Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto over his gun control ordinances. Ms. Nadonley, a gun rights advocate, gained notoriety earlier this year when she tried to have Mr. Peduto impeached.
Ms. Nadonley could not be reached for comment as the results were tallied.
This was the first time Ms. Wagner faced a general election challenge since 2011, when she first swept to office by beating Republican Robert Howard by more than 53,000 votes. She was on her way Tuesday to an even bigger landslide victory.