Allegheny County Executive 2023 Primary Results

UPDATED 11 p.m.

PITTSBURGH, PA — A contentious campaign among six Democratic candidates for Allegheny County Executive ended Tuesday with state Rep. Sara Innamoroto appearing to have defeated the other front-runner county Treasurer John Weinstein.

Four other candidates were on the Democratic ballot: Pittsburgh city Controller Michael Lamb; attorney and former county Councilman Dave Fawcett; Theresa Colaizzi, a former Pittsburgh Public Schools board member and Will Parker, a mobile app developer.

With 96 percent of precincts reporting, the vote totals were:

Innamoroto: 63,049

Weinstein: 49,678

Lamb: 33,340

Fawcett: 16,304

Colaizzi: 3,541

Parker: 1,890

The Democratic primary winner will face Joe Rockey in the November general election for the executive position. Rockey, a former PNC Financial Services executive, was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Four other candidates were on the Democratic ballot: Pittsburgh city Controller Michael Lamb; attorney and former county Councilman Dave Fawcett; Theresa Colaizzi, a former Pittsburgh Public Schools board member and Will Parker, a mobile app developer.

The six Democrats were vying to succeed county Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who is term-limited and will leave office after 12 years in December. The winner will be in charge of a county with a population of $1.2 million, a $3 billion budget, 7,500 employees, 400 miles of roads and 500 bridges.

Fitzgerald endorsed Lamb to be his successor.

Innamorato, 37, represents portions of Pittsburgh and several northern suburban communities. She ran as a progressive candidate and had the backing of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, U.S. Rep. Summer Lee of Pittsburgh, the Service Employees International Union, the Pennsylvania Working Families Party and Emily's List, a political action committee that aids Democratic female candidates who favor abortion rights.

"My top priorities are to ensure that everyone in Allegheny County has high-quality, safe, and affordable housing; to build the tax base that values our working families and helps us shift to a clean economy and to improve our air and water quality, with a particular focus on our environmental justice communities," Innamorato recently told the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh.

"These three issues would address deep inequities in our county, build shared prosperity, and improve the lives of all residents."

Weinstein, the country treasurer since 1999, was endorsed by the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, the AFL-CIO Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council, United Mine Workers of America and county councilwoman.

"My vision is a revitalized Allegheny County for all our children," Weinstein recently told the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh.

"In the last few years, we’ve lost 50,000 jobs. We need to reinvent ourselves into a desirable region to live and work. I’ll start by doing everything possible to address public safety. We also need to prioritize fixing our crumbling infrastructure. We need to utilize every resource at our disposal—local, state, federal—to reinvest in the very arteries that keep our community moving."

The politically well-connected Weinstein raised the most money of any county executive candidate. But he had to withstand accusations from Innamoroto that 85 percent of his donations came from Republicans.

He also was criticized for receiving more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from entities that were awarded contracts approved by Weinstein or a county board on which he sat.

He also came under scrutiny for having spent more than $1.2 million in campaign contributions on lavish meals, Rivers Club memberships and other items since 2014 - despite having no opponent for treasurer, Democrat or Republican, during that time.

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