The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

al election of 2007 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

was a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

held on

Tuesday Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however, ...

, November 6, 2007. The incumbent mayor, Luke Ravenstahl of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

faced

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

challenger Mark DeSantis, a telecommunications executive and

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

at Carnegie Mellon University. The race was notable for the strength of its Republican challenger, rare in Pittsburgh, and the election of such a young mayor, Ravenstahl being 27 years old at the time. Ravenstahl was elected with a comfortable margin in an election marked by unusually cold weather but record

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

Overview

The mayor of Pittsburgh is elected to the post in four year terms. The previous mayor,

Bob O'Connor Bob O'Connor may refer to: * Bob O'Connor (mayor) Robert E. O'Connor Jr. (December 9, 1944 – September 1, 2006) was an American politician who was the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from January 3, 2006, until his death. Personal life and ...

, was elected to the position on November 8, 2005, and began to serve January 3, 2006. However, O'Connor was diagnosed with

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

of the central nervous system on July 10, 2006. The prognosis was initially good as the mayor began treatment, including

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

, immediately, but O'Connor experienced many complications and died 8:55 PM local time September 1, 2006 at the age of 61. Ravenstahl, president of the city council, was sworn in as the new mayor at 10:36 PM local time, and would serve until a special election would be held to determine if he should complete O'Connor's term.

Primary elections

Primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s were held for both parties during county-wide elections on May 15, 2007. No candidates ran in the Republican primary, with DeSantis entering the race afterwards. Although it had appeared earlier that councilman

Bill Peduto William Mark Peduto (born October 30, 1964) is an American politician who was the 60th mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 2014 until 2022. He was a Democratic member of the Pittsburgh City Council from 2002 to 2014. Before his election to ...

, who ran against O'Connor in the 2005 primary, would challenge Ravenstahl in the Democratic Primary, he dropped out of the race and Ravenstahl won 95.94% of the Democratic primary vote.

General election

The general election was held on November 6, 2007, in unusually cold and windy weather which included the city's first snowfall of the year. Voter turnout was estimated to be 28.98%, and very few problems were reported at the polls. DeSantis polled well in more affluent areas of the city, such as

Squirrel Hill Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated ...

, while Ravenstahl commanded large portions of the vote in the city's black and working class white neighborhoods, such as the

Hill District The Hill District is a grouping of historically African American neighborhoods in the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, "the Hill" was the cultural center of black life in the city and a major cent ...

. The race was more competitive than usual in the heavily Democratic city, but was sufficiently one-sided that the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

declared Ravenstahl to be victorious only slightly more than one and a half hours after the polls had closed and only 20% of city precincts had reported voting totals. DeSantis conceded defeat to Ravenstahl shortly after, around 10 PM local time. Despite losing by more than thirty percentage points in general polling, DeSantis's performance was considered quite good for a Republican candidate, indeed the best performance in several decades.

References

{{2007 United States elections

2007 2000s in Pittsburgh Pittsburgh 2007

Pittsburgh, 2007