Retired Pittsburgh police officer Tony Moreno has re-entered Pittsburgh's mayoral race as a Republican in the November election.
He broke the news to Marty Griffin on NewsRadio KDKA Tuesday morning, moments before giving his morning press conference. "I'm going to run for mayor under the Republican ticket for the entire City of Pittsburgh," Moreno told Marty.
"Because the alternative can't happen," he explained. "We can't have this city fall apart. People are dying in our streets. People are getting hurt. People aren't being taken care of. They have raw sewage coming through their sewers and nobody's helping them, so we really need to adjust and focus on Pittsburgh first and I'm the one to do that."
He said "We really need to protect our city, protect our children, make sure that we all grow at an equal rate and make Pittsburgh one great city."
Moreno made the public announcement of his candidacy in Homewood after getting enough GOP write-in votes in the Primary.
He says changing parties does not change his vision for the City. "For this election right now, this is about the citizens of Pittsburgh and this is about electing somebody who is going to serve the people of Pittsburgh without any political bend."
Moreno came in a distant third in the Democratic primary, getting 13% of the vote as state Rep. Ed Gainey defeated incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto, denying the mayor a third term in office.
Can he win in November?
"Oh, I can win. There's a path to victory and that's everybody coming together," Moreno explained to Marty. "I don't believe anybody wants what's coming. They see how the spending's going, they see how the criminal activity in politics is working. People have had crimes committed against them by the state representatives, so we need to make sure that this gets straight and the political discourse ends. I believe that he Democrats and Republicans in this city are ready for a change."
Moreno says he hopes to have a bigger voice in this campaign, which will focus on bolstering public safety and public works.
He'll face Democratic nominee Ed Gainey who unseated incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto in May.
Ed Gainey will be Moreno's opponent in November.
In an email to NewsRadio KDKA, Gainey's campaign issued this statement: "Rep Gainey welcomes Mr. Moreno to the race, and looks forward to a positive general election campaign in which he'll continue to talk about his vision for uniting our City and building a Pittsburgh for all."