Naomi Girson | opinions editor

Following in his father’s footsteps, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor is the Democratic nominee for the 2025 Pittsburgh mayoral election.

The controller beat incumbent Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey in May’s primary

O’Connor has served as county controller since 2022 after he was appointed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and unanimously approved by the state Senate. For the decade previous to his controller position, he also served as a Pittsburgh city councilman.

O’Connor’s father, Bob O’Connor, was also a member of City Council from 1992 to 2003. He was elected as mayor in 2005 and served until he died of brain cancer in 2006.

Since his mayoral campaign announcement in December, O’Connor has established his stances on housing, finances, public safety and more.

O’Connor did not respond to a request for an interview with The Duke.

Avoiding pricing communities out

When it comes to housing, O’Connor is focused on modifying the zoning and permitting system, working with the Urban Redevelopment Authority to make affordable housing and creating more transit-oriented housing options, according to his website.

His goal, it said, is to have current residents remain in the city, instead of pricing communities out.

Austin Wise, co-president of College Democrats of America at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the president of the Pennsylvania College Democrats, interned for O’Connor during the spring. He, along with the entirety of their organization, endorsed O’Connor for mayor.

Wise said there are too many items to label just one as O’Connor’s main priority, but a few things immediately came to mind such as affordable housing, reducing blight and tending to under-served communities.

Budget transparency

According to his website, O’Connor wants to be realistic and transparent with the city when it comes to finances.

“The most important part is attracting new sources of tax revenue to the city because if we don’t do that, we’re headed towards an absolute cliff physically in Pittsburgh,” Wise said.

In the debate hosted by WPXI on Oct. 26, O’Connor was the first to point out the city’s financial shortcomings in Gainey’s budget.

“I was the one as the county controller that blew the whistle on the financial deficit in the county, in the city,” O’Connor said. “At this point we don’t even know the numbers, right now we’ve seen a preliminary budget from this administration that does not allow us to see what contracts are out there, where we’re misspending and misappropriating funding.”

‘Our job is to worry about the people of Pittsburgh’

In his first debate against Republican nominee Tony Moreno, which was hosted by KDKA on Oct. 7, O’Connor said he does not plan to cooperate with organizations like ICE if he prevails.

“Our job is not to worry about the federal government, our job is to worry about the people of Pittsburgh and making Pittsburgh a welcoming, safe place,” O’Connor said in the debate.

Riley Hunter is the president of an unaffiliated chapter of the College Democrats made up of Duquesne students. She feels hopeful about much that O’Connor has to offer in his campaign, including his stance on ICE.

“I think that Pittsburgh in particular just really benefits from immigration,” Hunter said, “I think it’s just so important to our city and our diversity as a city. So I know he has expressed that he won’t cooperate with ICE. I’m excited to see how that actually plays out because I did agree with Ed Gainey’s decision to not do that, and I’m hopeful that he follows through on these promises.”

Fearless in the face of opposition

Council member Erika Strassburger met O’Connor while he was serving on Pittsburgh City Council. While they were both in office, there was a mass shooting at Tree of Life Congregation in Squirrel Hill – impacting both of their districts

Strassburger said the pair took every interview together and worked together to pass local gun legislation as a result of the shooting.

The legislation included a set of three bills, focused on restricting the use of automatic and semi-automatic guns, restricting the use of certain firearms accessories and allowing local authorities to remove guns from a person’s home if they are served with a protection from abuse order, according to Public Source.

After this legislation was signed into law by former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, it was challenged by gun rights advocates. It was struck down by the Commonwealth Court.

But Strassburger said O’Connor is fearless in the face of opposition when it comes to passing legislation like this.

“I think [he] has grown even bolder over the years on important, what you might call ‘social issues’ … and protecting those who are most vulnerable against the current federal administration,” Strassburger said.

Naomi Girson can be reached at girsonn@duq.edu