{"id":1237,"date":"2013-11-06T12:14:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-06T12:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:39:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:39:21","slug":"the-last-republican-mayor-of-pittsburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/11\/06\/the-last-republican-mayor-of-pittsburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"The last Republican mayor of Pittsburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The outcome of Pittsburgh\u2019s mayoral election last night was not a surprise. Residents elected Democrat Bill Peduto as the city\u2019s next mayor. Josh Wander, the Republican candidate, who received 5,012 votes, some say, didn\u2019t stand a chance. But could Josh Wander have won if he made a genuine effort to stick around, didn\u2019t sell his Squirrel Hill house and didn\u2019t leave to Israel for a consulting job? Most people would say no.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the last time Pittsburgh had a Republican mayor was in 1933 and he served for only one year.<\/p>\n

His name was John S. Herron. To this day, he holds the distinction of having been the last GOP mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. Herron didn\u2019t even come to power through a popular vote. As president of City Council, he assumed the mayor\u2019s seat on March 31, 1933, to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Charles H. Kline,<\/a> the last Republican Pittsburghers actually elected. Mayor Kline turned out to be a crook. He was forced to resign by City Council after being convicted of malfeasance in connection with irregularities in the purchase of municipal supplies. That\u2019s how John S. Herron became Pittsburgh\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

Herron\u2019s administration was remarkable for \u2026 being uneventful. The most notable event that happened during his times was the repeal of \u201cSunday Blue Laws,\u201d which banned sports for 24 hours for the observance of a day of worship or rest. Given how sports are worshipped in Pittsburgh and are part of the weekend routine, those Blue Laws clearly didn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

John S. Herron lost the mayoral race in November 1933 to William N. McNair, who became the first Democrat to win the mayoral seat since 1905. Approximately 172,000 people cast their ballots in the election, McNair defeated Herron by 23,419 votes (McNair received 83,278; Herron had 59,859).<\/p>\n

After leaving the mayor\u2019s office, John S. Herron served as an Allegheny County commissioner until his death in 1947.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time Pittsburgh had a Republican mayor was in 1933 and he served for only one year.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesThe last Republican mayor of Pittsburgh<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[1036,1037],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/tumblr_mvt8qqNVbe1rr5swxo4_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1070&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1276,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/23\/david-lawrence-pittsburgh-visionary-political-genius-and-leader\/","url_meta":{"origin":1237,"position":0},"title":"David Lawrence, Pittsburgh visionary, political genius and leader","date":"October 23, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Lawrence was born in 1889, in Pittsburgh, only 75 feet from where the old Block house stood.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_mv3i2vw7W51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C970&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2147,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/11\/may-2-1932-the-trial-of-pittsburgh-mayor\/","url_meta":{"origin":1237,"position":1},"title":"The trial of Pittsburgh Mayor Charles Kline","date":"January 11, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Charles Kline (he\u2019s the one smoking the cigarette) can be remembered for many things.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-17-at-12.04.12-AM.png?fit=1200%2C571&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1130,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/12\/16\/czar-of-pittsburgh-police\/","url_meta":{"origin":1237,"position":2},"title":"Czar of Pittsburgh Police","date":"December 16, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Nate Harper? 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