Pittsburgh Mayoral Race

[True Democrat]

I don't live in the city, but this race is shaping up to be much more exciting than I thougth.  I didn't see the entirety of all the debates, but apparently DeSantis, did very well and made Ravenstahl look weak.

For some background, Ravenstahl is the extremely young (mid-20s) mayor of Pittsburgh who became mayor after O'Connor died.  Originally, Ravenstahl was opposed by Peduto (a City Councilman) for the nomination, but Peduto dropped out after the convention of Democrats in Pittsburgh overwhelmingly endorsed Ravenstahl.

There was no Republican on the primary ballot (if I recall correctly, there's a chance I might be getting this mixed up with the County Executive Republican primary), but DeSantis got enough write-in votes to appear on the general election ballot.

My predction is around 65% for Ravenstahl, but he could just get around 75% like all the other Democrats have done in recent memory.  Then again DeSantis could shock everyone and do extremely well (by getting over 40%).  Either way, the chance of a DeSantis victory is extremely slim (and I realize there's always a chance this could be going in someone's signature eventually).

I haven't seen any actual polling (one online poll on KDKA (television station) had DeSantis ahead, another one had Ravenstahl ahead).

Anyone else interested in this race?

[Friz]

Seeing as I'll be a resident here for awhile, I probably really should bone up on local politics...

[Sam Spade]

I don't live in Pittsburgh, sorry.  (thank God)

[True Democrat]

I'm revising my prediction a bit.  I have a feeling that DeSantis has a good chance of breaking 40%.  I did'nt realize that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (the more liberal and most widely read of the two newspapers) had endorsed him.

[True Democrat]

          MAYOR CITYWIDE
          (VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN )  1
           LUKE RAVENSTAHL (DEM)  .  .  .  .  .  .    13,355   63.64
           MARK F DESANTIS (REP)  .  .  .  .  .  .     7,206   34.34
           TONY OLIVA (LIB) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       170     .81
           RYAN SCOTT (SOC) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       170     .81
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        85     .41

27.79% turnout for the county.  I think the County Election Board predicted 40%, but that was definitely stretching it.

In case anyone cares.

[True Democrat]

          MAYOR CITYWIDE
          (VOTE FOR NOT MORE THAN )  1
           LUKE RAVENSTAHL (DEM)  .  .  .  .  .  .    23,816   63.26
           MARK F DESANTIS (REP)  .  .  .  .  .  .    13,084   34.75
           TONY OLIVA (LIB) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       294     .78
           RYAN SCOTT (SOC) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       306     .81
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       149     .40

55.76% in (for the county)
28.26% turnout (for the county)

[Reluctant Republican]

True Democrat, could you give a link to the election results page your using, if you don't mind?

[True Democrat]

True Democrat, could you give a link to the election results page your using, if you don't mind?

Sure. 

http://www.alleghenycounty.us/elect/200711gen/el45.htm

Also, I'm using this one:

http://www.wpxi.com/politics/4494233/detail.html

The WPXI site gives the percent of the votes counted specifically for the mayoral race.

They also just called it for Ravenstahl.  Looks like my original guess of about 65% was correct.

[Reluctant Republican]

Ah, thanks. I've not followed this race too closely, but I’m surprised that even with all the perceived problems that Ravenstahl had he still won by so much. Says a lot about the respective parties organization and GOTV efforts, I suppose.