MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ALUM ED GAINEY BECOMES FIRST BLACK MAYOR OF PITTSBURGH
Morgan State University graduate, Ed Gainey is the mayor-elect of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Gainey is set to take office on January 3, 2022 as the first black mayor of Pittsburgh. Gainey graduated from Morgan State University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in business management.
“I’m excited to be working with this thoughtful group of leaders as I plan for my transition into office next year, and I’m looking forward to having this opportunity to engage with the public to hear from them about their vision for the future of our city,” Gainey said.
Gainey is the first candidate to defeat a sitting mayor here in nearly 90 years. He received more than 67.66% of precincts with 38,151 votes for Gainey and 15,207 votes for Moreno.
In 1990, when he was a freshman at Morgan State he was started to actively get involved in politics. The campus was in uproar with students occupying administrative buildings and demanding more state funding for Maryland’s HBCU’s.
“We brought together a lot of different coalitions. You heard me talk about when I first ran. We wanted to unite Pittsburgh. We want to bring this city together so we intentionally reached out to everybody,” Gainey told KDKA political editor Jon Delano shortly after winning the Democratic nomination. “And we saw that coming together. Even on election night, it was amazing just seeing the diversity of people that were at the election night party.”
This victory isn't just my victory, it's a Pittsburgh victory. This City never gave up on me, no matter how tough it got, and I will always believe in Pittsburgh. I know that we can bring this City together. Our rivers and valleys keep us apart… /1 pic.twitter.com/83edpyiEQH
— Ed Gainey (@gainey_ed) November 3, 2021
Gainey discussed detailed goals, such as elevating Black women to prominent positions in city government and requiring businesses that seek a public subsidy to contribute to a centralized job-training fund, but acknowledges that racial inequities will take decades to resolve.
