Ed Gainey

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For the Canadian football player, see Ed Gainey (Canadian football).
Ed Gainey
Representative Edward Gainey (cropped).jpg
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
from the 24th district
Assumed office
January 1, 2013
Preceded byJoseph Preston Jr.
Personal details
Born (1970-02-19) February 19, 1970 (age 51)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Children3
EducationMorgan State University (BA)
WebsiteCampaign website

Edward C. "Ed" Gainey (born February 19, 1970) is an American politician serving as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 24th district.[1] He is the Democratic nominee in the 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election.[2][3]

Early life and education[]

Gainey grew up in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood.[4][5] He attended Peabody High School, where he played basketball, graduating in 1988.[4][5] In 1994, he graduated with his Bachelor's degree in business management from Morgan State University.[4][5]

Career[]

Early on in his career, Gainey spent six years as a legislative aide to Pennsylvania State Representative Joseph Preston, Jr..[6] Gainey's early career also included a period as a special projects manager under Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy.[6] During this period, Gainey worked to promote economic development in East Liberty. Gainey and Preston's relationship later soured, and Gainey first posed a primary challenge to Preston in 2004.[6] In 2006, Gainey challenged Preston for the second time, losing by just 94 votes.[7]

Gainey later took a position with the City of Pittsburgh under Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in a community development role.[4][8] In 2010, he became chairman of the city's Democratic Party committee.[4][8]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives[]

In 2012, on his third attempt at doing so, Gainey defeated his former boss, Joseph Preston, Jr., in a Democratic primary.[8][9] Gainey has represented the 24th District since 2013.[10] His district includes many majority-Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, including Homewood, East Liberty, East Hills, and Lincoln-Lemington, plus the demographically similar adjacent municipality of Wilkinsburg.[citation needed] Gainey is a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.[11]

In 2014, while serving in the Pennsylvania state legislature, Gainey joined the board of directors of the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA), Pittsburgh's economic development agency.[12] As of 2021, Gainey continues to sit on the URA board, currently serving as vice chair.[13]

2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election[]

Main article: 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election

In January 2021, Gainey announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election.[14] Gainey's opponents included incumbent mayor Bill Peduto, who was running for re-election after two terms in office.[15]

While Peduto won high-profile endorsements from institutional players, including eight out of nine members of Pittsburgh's City Council, as well as Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and U.S. Representative Mike Doyle, Peduto and Gainey split endorsements from organized labor groups, and Gainey won the endorsement of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee (an endorsement Peduto chose not to pursue) and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.[16][17][18] Gainey attacked Peduto's performance over his two terms as mayor, accusing the incumbent mayor of failing to pursue tax payments from nonprofit healthcare giant UPMC and of squandering an opportunity to improve police-community relations during 2020's George Floyd protests.[19][20]

In May 2021, Gainey won the primary election with 46% of the vote compared to Peduto's 39%, becoming the Democratic candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh in November's general election.[15] Since Pittsburgh is heavily Democratic, Gainey is viewed as likely to win November's general election, which would make him Pittsburgh's first-ever Black mayor.[15]

Personal life[]

On January 22, 2016, Gainey's younger sister, Janese Talton-Jackson, was shot dead in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood by a man who followed her out of a bar.[21]

Electoral history[]

2021 Pittsburgh mayoral Democratic primary[22]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Ed Gainey 25,784 46.1
Democratic Bill Peduto (incumbent) 22,029 39.4
Democratic Tony Moreno 7,390 13.2
Democratic Michael Thompson 669 1.2
Democratic Write-in 116 0.2
Total votes 55,988 100

References[]

  1. ^ "SESSION OF 2013 - 197TH OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY - No. 1" (PDF). Legislative Journal. Pennsylvania House of Representatives. January 1, 2013.
  2. ^ in the 2021 Pittsburgh mayoral election
  3. ^ http://www.house.state.pa.us/BMC/Bios/PDF/2440.PDF
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Rep. Edward C. Gainey Biography". Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Ed Gainey". Allegheny County Democratic Committee.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Mock, Brentin. "Family Feud". Pittsburgh City Paper.
  7. ^ Delano, Jon (2012-03-29). "State Rep. Joe Preston Accused Of Forging Petition Signatures". KDKA. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Gainey in the 24th: It's time to replace a veteran but tired incumbent". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  9. ^ Fontaine, Tom (April 24, 2021). "Veteran legislator out in 24th District". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
  10. ^ "Representative Ed Gainey". Pennsylvania General Assembly.
  11. ^ "Members List". Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  12. ^ Schooley, Tim. "StateRep. Ed Gainey joins URA board". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  13. ^ "Directory". URA. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  14. ^ Staff, WPXI com News. "State Rep. Ed Gainey launching campaign for mayor of Pittsburgh". WPXI. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c Robertson, Campbell (2021-05-19). "Pittsburgh Is Poised to Have Its First Black Mayor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-24.
  16. ^ Deto, Ryan. "Democratic Primary Election 2021: Pittsburgh Mayor". Pittsburgh City Paper.
  17. ^ "Gainey for mayor of Pittsburgh". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  18. ^ "Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorses Gainey for Pittsburgh mayor". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  19. ^ Davidson, Tom (10 May 2021). "Pittsburgh's mayoral election features 2 established candidates and 2 novices". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  20. ^ Lyons, Kim; April 21, Pennsylvania Capital-Star (2021-04-21). "A Keystone Election: Meet the 2021 candidates for Pittsburgh mayor". Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
  21. ^ Whaley, Kacie (January 24, 2016). "Pittsburgh woman killed after turning man down at a bar". Archived from the original on January 25, 2016.
  22. ^ "Dem Mayor Pittsburgh". Allegheny County, PA Election Results. Retrieved 23 May 2021.

External links[]

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