By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor

While the vote totals are still unofficial as of writing, Allegheny County and Pennsylvania government have released the results of the 2023 primary election, which took place on May 16.

Here are the results from the major races:

City races

In the Democratic race for Pittsburgh Controller, Rachael Heisler came out ahead with 22,366 in the unofficial count. Mark DePasquale followed with 12,213 and Tracy Royston came in third with 11,132 votes. There were 127 write-ins. There were no Republicans on the ballot, but there were 474 write-in votes on the Republican side of the race.

Democratic incumbent Bobby Wilson claimed victory again for the Democratic nomination for Pittsburgh City Council District 1, leading 3,614 votes to Steven Oberst’s 972 votes. A total of 26 write-in votes were cast in the race. On the Republican side, 80 write-in votes were cast.

The race for Pittsburgh Public Schools Board District 1 saw reversed results on the Democratic side compared to the Republican side, with both candidates cross-filed for both parties. Devon Taliaferro won the Democratic nod 4,358 votes to Ron Sofo’s 3,006 and 24 write-ins, while Sofo claimed the GOP nomination with 225 votes to Taliaferro’s 141, with eight write-ins. The two will presumably face each other once more in the general election. Taliaferro is the incumbent and current first-vice president on the board.

In District 8 for the school board, incumbent Dwayne Barker cruised unopposed to victory in the Democratic race with 3,195 votes to 51 write-ins. There were 29 write-ins on the Republican side.

Countywide races

The hotly-contested race for the Democratic nomination for Allegheny County Chief Executive saw state Rep. Sara Innamorato come out on top, with 64,979 votes. John Weinstein followed with 50,935 votes while Michael Lamb claimed 34,147 votes. Dave Fawcett received 16,712, while Theresa Colaizzi got 3,663 and William Parker received 1,961. There were 228 write-ins. Innamorato will face Joseph Rockey, who claimed the GOP nomination unopposed, with 44,983 votes against 2,634 write-ins.

In the race for County Controller, incumbent Corey O’Connor trounced his opponent Darwin Leuba for the Democratic nod, winning 135,663 to 30,719 votes and with 381 write-ins. There were no candidates on the GOP ballot, with 13,306 write-ins cast.

The District Attorney race on the Democratic side saw Matt Dugan come out on top with 94,973 votes to incumbent Steve Zappala’s 75,573 and with 196 write-ins cast. A total of 11,857 write-ins were cast on the Republican ballot.

In the County Treasurer race, Erica Brusselars received the Democratic nod with 104,617 votes to 53,430 cast for Anthony Coghill and 475 write-ins cast. The Republican ballot saw 13,755 write ins cast.

A sign hangs outside the door to the Ward 27, District 9 polling place, located at Woods Run Carnegie Library. Photo by Matthew Koscienski

The race for the County Council At-Large seat saw incumbent Bethany Hallam win the Democratic vote with 89.462 votes to Joanna Doven’s 68,392 votes and 969 write-ins. Sam DeMarco won the Republican nomination unopposed with 45,170 votes compared to 968 write-ins.

In the County Council District 13 race, David Bonaroti claimed the Democratic nod unopposed with 11,570 votes next to 430 write-ins. A total of 215 write-ins were cast in the Republican race for the seat.

The race for the 5th Judicial District in the Court of Common Pleas saw Patrick Sweeney win the Democratic nomination with 79,044 votes to Anthony Deluca’s 55,811 and Andrew Szefi’s 27,071. The Republican nomination, however, went to Deluca with 28,786 votes to Sweeney’s 12,701 and Szefi’s 7,753.

Statewide races

In the race to replace Justice Max Baer, who died on Sept. 30, 2022, on the state Supreme Court, Daniel McCaffery won the Democratic nomination with 630,949 votes statewide against Deborah Kunselman’s 417,703 votes. Carolyn Carluccio came out on top on the Republican side, with 441,032 votes to Patricia McCullough’s 382,152 votes. McCaffery and McCullough will now face each other in the general election.

In the race for two open seats on the Superior Court, Jill Beck and Timika Lane won the Democratic nominations with 692,098 and 650,035 respectively, with Patrick Dugan trailing with 372,035. On the Republican side, Maria Battista and Harry Smail Jr. won the Republican nod with 625,664 and 557,229 votes respectively. The race goes on to the general election.

Finally, in the Judge of the Commonwealth Court race, Matthew Wolf won the Democratic nod with 574,802 votes to Bryan Neft’s 430,234 votes. The Republicans nominated Megan Martin with 501,257 votes to Joshua Prince’s 294,706 votes. The race goes on to the general election.

All totals are unofficial as of writing and counts may change as officials finalize results. Allegheny County results can be found at alleghenycounty.us/elections/election-results.aspx, while statewide results can be found at electionreturns.pa.gov/Home/SummaryResults.