Joseph Sabino Mistick: Politics is still a people business – TribLIVE

The race for Allegheny County executive may still be Sara Innamorato’s to lose because of the heavy Democratic registration edge here, but her Republican opponent, Joe Rockey, appears to have a shot. There seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for Innamorato among traditional older Democrats, including many Democratic committee men and women.

It’s not that they might not have embraced her. It’s just that she never embraced them. When she first ran and won a seat in the state Legislature, she said she was a Democrat and a Democratic Socialist. That is an organization of political outsiders that has successfully supported candidates against traditional Democrats here and in other metropolitan areas.

Like a divided family on Thanksgiving Day, some Democratic committee chairs and their committee members — even in Democratic strongholds — are sounding unhappy enough to sit this race out. And some point to Innamorato’s victory speech on primary election night as the start of it.

With Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and U.S. Rep. Summer Lee at her side on live television, Innamorato was understandably joyful in victory. She had just beaten the endorsed Democratic candidate. There are few moments that are good in politics, but there are some traditional requirements for any good victory speech, especially after a primary election victory.

In politics, unlike sports, after you win a primary election, you need the people you just beat to join your team for the next big game — the general election. At least during the televised part of Innamorato’s speech, there was no opening praise for the Democrats she had just vanquished and no call for the party to now come together to beat the Republicans in November.

Innamorato won with 38% of the vote. Her three closest opponents garnered nearly 60% of the remaining vote. You do the math. If she had a solid grip on those votes, this race would not be close.

But, as one Democratic ward chair recently said, “They keep making it abundantly clear that they don’t need us and that they can go it alone.” He said the committee people — the foot soldiers of past campaigns — feel that way, too, skipping committee meetings and the distribution of lawn signs in his ward and others.

“We see nothing but Rockey and Zappala signs in our ward,” he said.

We are taught as kids to be good losers, but not so much about how to be a good winner. That moment of victory can be overwhelming, but Cherelle Parker showed how it should be done after her May primary victory for mayor of Philadelphia. Days after beating nine fellow Democrats, she hosted a “unity breakfast” for them, where she publicly praised them.

“My ego is not big enough that I am not willing to work with anyone,” she said. “That means even those people who I agree to disagree with on a number of issues.”

After that, seven of them endorsed her and pledged to work for her victory in the general election. One Democratic chair said to me, “That’s how it’s done in the big leagues.”

It is funny how the little things still make a big difference in politics. Even with high-tech polling, social media campaigning and online fundraising, politics is still a people business.

We will see if the self-proclaimed progressives in Allegheny County can continue winning without building coalitions, mending fences and compromising for the common good.