PITTSBURGH, PA - Tonight, independent Labor Party candidate Alex Rose, a 28-year-old political activist, has won a crucial election for a Pittsburgh-based Allegheny County Council seat. With 90% of the vote counted, Rose led his Republican opponent by a margin of 56% to 43%
Rose said that the Labor Party name did well in Allegheny County, with a population of 1.2 million, because of the deep roots of the union movement in Western Pennsylvania.
"I think people respond well to that," said Rose in an interview with Payday Report. "I think especially here in Allegheny County, our citizen body understands that organized labor built this county".
Under Allegheny County's arcane laws, there are two at-large county council seats, one reserved for a majority party and the other for a minority party. For decades, progressives did not bother challenging the Republican-held minority seat by setting up a third party.
In April, Rose, a veteran progressive activist, decided to launch a campaign as a Labor Party candidate to qualify for the ballot to challenge Republican Mike Embrescia, the co-owner of a large robotics company.
Embrescisa looked like a formidable candidate and even garnered the support of several powerful construction unions, as well as the firefighters and police unions. In advertisements, Embrescia boasted that he was "Pro-Union, Pro-Business, and Pro-Law Enforcement".
Despite well-funded opposition from the deep-pocketed construction unions and business interests, Rose was determined to challenge Embrescia for the county council seat in the heavily Democratic county.
"I was frustrated with the status quo," Rose told Payday. "No one was challenging this. It went three months without a challenger. So I decided, instead of waiting for someone to stand up, why would I not just stand up myself?"
While Democrats currently enjoy a 13-2 majority on the County Council, several council members are corporate Democrats, and some progressive measures have struggled to win support. Due to opposition from the Steelworkers and fossil fuel-friendly construction unions, environmental measures intended to crack down on some of the worst air pollution in the country have often struggled to pass.
Rose, though, pledged to be a progressive voice on the County Council.
"I want to make sure our county's air is cleaner. Unfortunately, hundreds of people die each year right now due to our air quality," says Rose. "I obviously hope to indeed support organized labor and make sure that we are being fair to our workers in the county".
