Businessman Eric Papenfuse won the open-seat mayoral election in distressed Harrisburg, Pa., on Tuesday night.
Papenfuse, a Democrat, will succeed one-term Mayor Linda Thompson and oversee the implementation of a state receiver's financial recovery plan intended to keep Pennsylvania's 49,000-population capital out of bankruptcy.
"I'm fully aware of my weaknesses, but fully confident that I have been called to lead," Papenfuse, a Democrat, told supporters at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, which he owns.
Papenfuse earned 3,618 votes, or roughly 50% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Dauphin County Office of Elections and Voter Registration.
City controller Dan Miller, who lost to Papenfuse in the Democratic primary in May but ran as a Republican in the general election, had 2,333 votes, or 32%. Write-in candidates received the other 18%.
Thompson lost in her bid for a second term, finishing third in the Democratic primary.
Speaking in a city long noted for its political infighting, Papenfuse called for unity "to move Harrisburg out of its current state of despair."
The city is putting final touches on a plan aimed at erasing more than $600 million of debt, including $363 million related to incinerator retrofit bond financing overruns. Central to the plan are the sale of the incinerator to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority and a 40-year lease of parking assets to Harrisburg First, a consortium that includes Guggenheim Securities, Piper Jaffray & Co., Standard Parking Corp. and Trimont Real Estate Advisors.
Papenfuse supports the recovery plan, while Miller favored filing for bankruptcy. Should delays continue in the pricing of the bonds for the incinerator and parking deals, the new mayor could inherit a cash-flow crunch when he takes office in January.
Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, in Scranton, a community facing serious budget strains, Democratic tax collector Bill Courtright defeated Republican Jim Mulligan by a 57% to 43% margin. Three-term Mayor Chris Doherty did not seek re-election.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, a Democrat, easily won a third term, defeating independent W. Michael Donovan 62% to 38%.
Pawlowski, who is running for governor next year, touted economic development and a $220 million water and sewer concession deal that erased an unfunded pension liability.
Democratic councilman Bill Peduto won the Pittsburgh mayor's race in a landslide, trouncing Republican candidate Joshua Wander 85% to 12% in another open-seat race. Incumbent Luke Ravenstahl did not seek re-election.
Under Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh petitioned state officials to exit the distressed communities program known commonly as Act 47, citing improved bond ratings and the need to remove a stigma. Peduto, however, favors retaining state oversight.
