LIVE UPDATES: A Look at the Countywide Races

UPDATE at 12:49 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18: http://patch.com/A-h4hY

UPDATE at 9:57 p.m.: With 64 percent of the precincts counted, former Allegheny County Council President Rich Fitzgerald continues to lead county Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty, 57 percent to 43 percent, in the race to be the Democratic nominee for Allegheny County Executive.

On the Republican side, D. Raja has pulled to a seemingly insurmountable lead of 72 percent to 28 percent over Chuck McCullough.

For the Democratic nomination to succeed Flaherty as controller, state Rep. Chelsa Wagner leads a three-way race with 52 percent of the vote. Allegheny County Real Estate Department Manager Valerie McDonald Roberts is a distant second with 29 percent of the vote, and former county Clerk of Courts George Matta trails the pack with 20 percent of the vote.

For the county council at-large seat, two Republican attorneys are seeking the nomination. With 64 percent of the vote counted, Heather Heidelbaugh leads Edward J. Kress, 58 percent to 42 percent.

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Now, it’s time to count the votes. With the polls having just closed, Allegheny County residents will soon learn the winners of primary races for county executive, county controller and seats on county council.

The race getting the most attention is for Allegheny County executive.

For Republicans, it’s a choice between Mt. Lebanon computer software entrepreneur D. Raja and former county councilman and county solicitor Chuck McCullough, of .

Raja, 45, won endorsements from several key Republicans, including Gov. Tom Corbett, Allegheny County GOP Chairman Jim Roddey and House Majority Leader Mike Turzai of Bradford Woods Borough.

Raja has promised, if elected, to make Allegheny County friendlier to start-up companies, like his 300-employee custom software business, Computer Enterprises, Inc., which he launched from a spare bedroom in 1992.

McCullough, 56, who was heavily outspent in the primary, faces trial in September on charges that he misspent $200,000 from the estate of an elderly dementia patient he represented. McCullough maintains his innocence and notes that companion accusations were dismissed in an Orphan’s Court lawsuit three years ago.

McCullough was elected to the county council in 2007 and promises to eliminate the county’s 7-percent poured drink tax if elected. He did not seek endorsements from politicians, telling Patch: "You start asking for endorsements, and their baggage becomes your baggage."

Democrats will nominate either former county council President Rich Fitzgerald of Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood or current county Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty of Mt. Lebanon.

Fitzgerald, 52, a married father of eight who runs his own energy efficiency firm, promises, if elected, not to raise property taxes and not to allow Marcellus Shale drilling in residential areas of the county.

Flaherty, 49, is a lawyer, the son of a former county commissioner and a nephew of former Pittsburgh Mayor Pete Flaherty. If elected, Mark Flaherty plans to tap into the natural gas deposits under Pittsburgh International Airport and convert the county’s vehicles and buildings to natural gas fuel. 

Three Democrats are seeking the nomination to succeed Flaherty as controller; state Rep. , 33, of Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood; Allegheny County Real Estate Department Manager Valerie McDonald Roberts, 55, of Churchill Borough; and George Matta, 54, a former Duquesne mayor and former clerk of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, of White Oak Borough.

The Republican candidate for controller, Robert Howard, is unopposed.

For the county council at-large seat, two Republican attorneys are seeking the nomination—Edward J. Kress, 39, of Shaler Township, and Heather Heidelbaugh, 52, of Mt. Lebanon.

The winner will face incumbent Democrat John P. DeFazio in the fall.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. is unopposed in the Democratic primary, and no Republican candidate entered the race.

For county treasurer, both Republican C. Edward Peifer and incumbent Democrat John K. Weinstein were unopposed.