Today, local community activists and advocates joined together with elected officials and labor leaders to condemn the racist and untruthful mailer that many people received from an independent expenditure group supporting Corey O’Connor. 

It is the most recent in a series of racialized and anti-black attacks on Pittsburgh’s first black Mayor from O’Connor’s campaign and the organizations supporting him. . 

The use of problematic ads and mailers when it comes to political races where Black candidates are running in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County is fast becoming an issue as similar tactics were denounced in 2020 and 2022.

This kind of anti-Black, anti-woman campaigning is unacceptable and Pittsburgh’s community leaders, activists, advocates, and elected officials demand that it be denounced. 

In addition to the mailer being racist, it also contained falsehoods and misleading innuendo. To set the record straight:

  • The home featured on the mailer is a picture from 2018 of 2031 Tustin Street Uptown in 2018. It is not actually blighted. It was repaired and renovated a number of years ago. 
  • The money allotted to a third party to support the unhoused was transferred to the Office Community Health and Safety in Mayor Gainey’s Public Safety Department, where it has been used to provide dedicated support to our unhoused neighbors – helping get the vast majority out of tents and into housing that meets their individual needs. 
  • The lie that the mayor added $5 million to his staff when he simply brought existing roles together to put 311 and Neighborhood Services under one roof, so that they can collaborate better and serve residents better. Now every neighborhood in Pittsburgh has someone from the Mayor’s office going to their community meetings and focusing on their needs.   
  • The ad even attacks the Mayor’s wife, claiming that a contract awarded to someone she knows was somehow inappropriate, when it is well known that the particular contract in question – like all contracts unless otherwise approved by council –  went through the legally required RFP process.  

We also heard from State Representatives Aerion Abney and La’Tasha D. Mayes, who spoke on their experience as Black elected officials in Pittsburgh and representing Pittsburgh’s historically overlooked and underserved Black communities. Representative Abney told us  it is so important for all of Pittsburgh to denounce this kind of campaigning, not just because it is unfair and untrue, but because if our area politicians are willing to lie this way and use anti-Black racism to tear down Mayor Gainey, they are willing to do this to all of our Black elected officials and absolutely not the kind of politicians who should be representing Pittsburgh’s Black Communities. 

To summarize:

  • Corey O’Cononor, his campaign, and the organizations supporting him have been engaged in a long-term campaign of racialized and anti-black attacks on Pittsburgh’s first black Mayor. This mailer is a clear demonstration of how these tactics are unacceptable in our city. 
  • As Congresswoman Lee noted over the weekend, Black neighborhoods in Pittsburgh have been systematically and intentionally neglected for decades. Sold out to developers, like the Historic Hill District and East Liberty. Torn in half by racist road projects, like Chateau and Manchester. 
  • Not until the last few years have people from our communities started to even scratch the surface on political influence and power. There’s a reason there’s never been a Black mayor before now. 
  • Now you’re seeing (or not seeing) some of the very same power players behind the scenes who administered, orchestrated or ignored that divestment trying to convince you that a Black mayor’s inability to overcome their DECADES of poor leadership in 1 term is somehow a reflection of his (and our) failure, instead of theirs. They are doing this to try and reclaim the power they have had for decades.
  • For 3 short years, Black and poor and non connected people and communities have been able to finally pull up a folding chair to their table. 
  • This mailer leans into deeply racist tropes — calling the administration of a Black mayor filled with cronies, implying he has misappropriated funds, saying he is enriching his friends, and alleging financial mismanagement is highly inappropriate.
  • In particular, this mailer is harmful to Black women by implying that the contracts they earned through the required RFP process were not deserved or transparent – a particularly spurious claim considering the city’s recent achievement of increasing MWDBE contracts by 35% over the past few years.
  • Corey must denounce this racist, lying attack from his PAC, acknowledge the harm that it causes our Black community, and commit to stop using them from here on out. Because our politics deserves to be so much more than this.

1Hood Power stands with all of today’s speakers and other elected officials and community leaders who have condemned this mailer and the ongoing anti-Black campaigning in this election in calling on not just the O’Connor campaign, but all of our elected officials – at every level of government – to say “NO MORE”  this kind of racist campaigning. It is deeply harmful especially at a time when our very democracy is being challenged at the federal level by anti-diversity white nationalist sentiment and Pittsburgh will not stand for it. 

See the complete press conference on 1Hood Power’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EESBKfaxk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Photos and additional video of the event: April 21, 2025 Press Conference

1Hood Power is proud to endorse Dr. Yusuf Salaam for the Harlem District 9 seat in the New York City Council race. Dr. Yusuf is a testament to the strength, courage, and tenacity needed from a City Council leader when our nation is headed back to the dangerous terrain of mass incarceration and over-policing.

Dr. Yusuf has the experience, vision, and plan to ensure everyone can succeed and overcome obstacles and challenges in this unprecedented time. Dr. Yusef overcame his personal circumstances due to his wrongful convictions and has endured xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric during this race. In a District where people look like and have names that sound like Dr. Yusef’s, there is no question he reflects the community he is being called to serve. His character and steadfast commitment to the people of District 9 are unwavering, and there is no choice but to rank Dr. Yusef as number one on June 27th.

As such, 1Hood Power is proud to endorse Dr. Yusuf Salaam for City Council Harlem District 9 seat for the primary election on June 27th. People can find out their voting poll location, voting hours and more by visiting https://www.vote.nyc/elections.

Helpful links to learn more about the candidate:

City and State Profile

Gothamist Profile

1Hood Power is a 501(c)4 organization based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This primary election season, we focused on districts in SWPA with competitive races. We reached out to candidates through email and social media to gather responses. Below is our the May 2023 Primary Election Candidate Scorecards.

On May 16th, Pennsylvania voters across the Commonwealth are choosing judicial candidates and legislators who will make consequential decisions and policies about how we live our lives including affordable housing, safety, elections, school funding, accessibility and livability. These positions have tremendous power over people’s lives and livelihoods. Below is how candidates fared this cycle. Please note we only reach out to candidates in contested races during the primary.

Organizationally we focus on: criminal justice reform, affordable housing, environmental justice, voting rights and other issues impacting Black Pennsylvanian and Working Class People throughout the Commonwealth.

Please Note No Response indicates the candidates did not submit answers by the deadline or respond to requests

Scoring: Scoring is the result of the average score of staff, volunteers, and contractors. Each candidate receives an individualized rating and those score are tallied and averaged. No judicial candidate is penalized for not answering a question they reasonably believe will come before them in the court of law.

Meet the richest man in Pennsylvania, reportedly worth $30 Billion. His name is Jeff Yass and he’s rigging the rules of our society to work for his right wing agenda. He poses an existential threat to Black and
Brown people, working families, the LGBT community and our democracy itself.
Jeff Yass influences politicians, elections and public policy. He gives money to politicians and advocacy
groups to make laws that harm, punish and attempt to erase our communities. He donates some of his
billions to interest groups or political leaders who are on the wrong side of the issues that matter to us
most.


He funds efforts to privatize our public schools, cut corporate business taxes, outlaw abortion & bust
unions. He also funds anti-immigrant groups that supported the Muslim ban, public officials who aim to
disenfranchise voters of color and lobbying efforts to reinstate mandatory minimum sentences. Jeff Yass
has also given funds to campaigns opposing ‘critical race theory’ in schools and important solutions to
climate change.


He has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and refers to those in the environmental community as “climate
change hysterical people”. Jeff Yass also supports groups who oppose legislation that would protect
LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing, employment, and other public accommodations. Last but
not least, Yass funds politicians with ties to white nationalism who supported the January 6th insurrection,
promoted QAnon conspiracies and sought to overturn the 2020 election results.


We cannot let Jeffrey Yass continue to undermine democracy, sow division and block progress for Black,
Brown, working class; LGBT communities across PA. We need to bring to light his role in attempting to
reshape our lives, society and democracy. No elected officials should ever take money from Jeff Yass.
We need leaders who represent us and stand up to the billionaires. It is time he is held accountable.
We need to come together to stop Yass from rigging the rules by taking 3 important steps:

  1. Tax the rich and abolish the uniformity clause in Pennsylvania so that billionaires pay
    what they owe to our communities and stop having so much money to pollute our
    Democracy.
  2. Pass campaign finance limits in Pennsylvania so those with the most money can’t give
    unlimited campaign donations.
  3. Pass lobbying reform bills, like a gift ban, so billionaires have less influence on
    Legislation.

Learn more about Jeff Yass here :

  • https://www.propublica.org/article/jeff-yass-susquehanna-tiktok-tax-avoidance
  • https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-yass/?sh=88a282f5f1a1
  • https://news.littlesis.org/2022/09/28/jeffrey-yass-the-billionaire-behind-pennsylvanias-right-wing-machine/
  • https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/who-is-jeffrey-yass-and-why-is-he-such-a-big-problem-for-pennsylvania-opinion/