Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

Corey O’Connor, the 41-year-old Duquesne alumnus who ousted former Mayor Ed Gainey in the Democratic primary, was sworn in as Pittsburgh’s 62nd mayor on Monday. District Judge James J. Hanley administered the oath of office.

In his first speech as mayor, O’Connor told a crowded Carnegie Music Hall that his main goal is to make the city affordable, safe and welcoming.

“I want everyone to choose to raise their families in Pittsburgh,” O’Connor said. “Pittsburghers are resilient, hardworking and generous. A brighter future requires that we lean into these efforts. It requires that we reimagine the city in ways not done before.”

As O’Connor take over the Mayor’s Office, he will oversee a $693 million budget and a city undergoing a 20% property tax increase. The city is also undertaking a $600 million revitalization project for Downtown.

O’Connor, who entered politics in 2012 on Pittsburgh City Council before becoming Allegheny County controller in 2022, acknowledged the city is facing financial obstacles, and that it’s something he hopes to overcome.

“Right now, the city is in difficult financial times,” the new mayor said. “The state of our budget requires tough decisions.”

But these obstacles did not deter O’Connor from putting improved public safety at the forefront of his agenda. In the months after he was elected, O’Connor nominated both a police chief and public safety director, which will require approval from council.

“Public safety is not a statistic. It is a feeling you have when you walk down the street,” he said. “I want every resident and visitor to our great city to feel safe in every community.”

The city will host the 2026 NFL Draft, which O’Connor said he would use as an opportunity to amplify Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods and culture as thousands of eyes are on the Steel City.

Pittsburgh’s prosperity was at the top of the priority list at the ceremony not only for O’Connor, but also for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was among the political leaders in attendance along with former mayors Ed Gainey, Bill Peduto, Luke Ravenstahl and Tom Murphy.

“When Pittsburgh succeeds, our entire commonwealth does as well,” Shapiro said. “Today, you [O’Connor] begin to write the next chapter in the story of this great city, and I know it is going to be a good one. When you talk to people in this city, there’s this feeling of hope, optimism.”

And optimism is what O’Connor said he hopes to encourage within the Steel City.

“When it comes to growing Pittsburgh, our city has been a culture of ‘we can’t, we won’t’ — a culture of no,” O’Connor said. “It’s time to change Pittsburgh’s culture, both how we feel about ourselves and how the world sees us. It’s time to become a city of hope and optimism.”

As the hundreds of onlookers cheered for the newly sworn in mayor, his wife, Katie, and two children, Molly and Emmett, stood by his side. They were the reason he decided to run in the first place, O’Connor said.

It was also the inspiration of his father, Bob O’Connor, the 58th mayor of Pittsburgh. He died eight months after being inaugurated.

O’Connor’s brother, Terry O’Connor, remembered standing on a similar stage at their father’s inauguration 20 years ago.

“We just always envisioned it — Corey becoming mayor,” he said. “You earned this opportunity, and Cor, you have a chance here to finish a job that daddy started but in your own wonderful and unique way.”

O’Connor said he strives to continue his father’s legacy a decade later by returning to the fundamentals of governing, maintaining and improving infrastructure, and creating a safe community.

“We deserve better,” he said. “Pittsburgh is more than where we live. It is our identity.”

The midday event followed the inauguration of the 144th Council of Pittsburgh where newly elected Democrat Kim Salinetro was sworn in to represent the city’s West End Neighborhoods. She was sworn in alongside returning council members Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, R. Daniel Lavelle, D-Hill District, and Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill.

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu