On Sept. 28, Bill Peduto stood on the same stage he stood on five months earlier when he celebrated his primary win over Jack Wagner.
This time, business was less casual, as Peduto and his team told hundreds of supporters their plan of action to win the Pittsburgh mayoral election on Nov. 5.
The supporters gathered at Peduto's campaign kickoff party at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers in South Side. Peduto, the Democratic candidate for mayor, will face Republican Josh Wander and independent Les Ludwig to fill the spot left by current mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
At the party, Peduto circled the room to talk casually with his supporters and take questions.
"There's a lot of people in that room that put their neck out for me, and I'd like to hang out with them and see them," Peduto said. "Not only I hope they are getting a little bit fired up, it gets me fired up too."
With the election in less than a month, Peduto is heavily favored to win the race, according to many supporters attending the party. Wander is overseas in Israel and hopes to attend the upcoming mayoral forums, he said on Twitter. The 80-year-old Ludwig is running for the seventh time.
Even though he is favored to win, Peduto said he plans to "put together the strongest campaign we can put together."
"It doesn't matter who the opponent is," Peduto said. "It's putting together your campaign. It's sort of like the difference between a regular thoroughbred horse race where you're competing against the other horses and a steeple chase where you want to run the course the best you can."
Eric Hagarty, Peduto's campaign manager, said he thinks the campaign will be successful if "we execute like we need to."
"There's still a number of yard signs to
put out," Hagarty said. "You still knock on the same number of doors."
There will be two forums in October where voters can hear all three candidates speak. Tomorrow, a "Meet the Candidates" event is set at the Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church, and the next evening, the three will appear at the Hazelwood Initiative Candidates Forum on 5344 Second Avenue.
Peduto and Wander are scheduled to speak alone to the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs on Wednesday about their education at the school. The race's issues will not be discussed.
Even though the events are scheduled, Wander cannot confirm he will be present at any of them.
The final televised debate before the election, the WTAE Candidate Forum on Oct. 29, was cancelled yesterday because Wander could not guarantee to the station he would be back from Israel.
Ludwig started his campaign at the Peduto kickoff, wearing a sign around his neck and handing out flyers. He said he has "a responsibility to look at the corruption" during his campaign.
"I don't dislike Bill...but he has $1.3 million in his [campaign]," Ludwig said. "That means that he owes favors to people and he can't just walk away."
At the party, supporters could eat free food, listen to folk music from a live band and watch the Pirates game on a projector screen. In spirit of Pirates baseball, Peduto's team handed out Pittsburgh baseball t-shirts with "Peduto 13" on the back in exchange for a pledge of support and service.
Attendees gathered around the stage at the end of the event to hear Peduto speak. Peduto talked about the campaign and recalled standing on the same stage in May.
"We sort of turned the political
world of Pittsburgh upside down.”
