Allegheny County Councilwoman Liv Bennett not running for reelection

One of Allegheny County Council’s progressive members announced Monday that she will not be seeking reelection.

The campaign of Allegheny County Councilwoman Liv Bennett, D-Northview Heights, tweeted that Bennett has dropped her independent run for reelection.

Earlier this year, Bennett was running for Allegheny County Executive and her council seat simultaneously, but withdrew from the Democratic race for both contests. Her signature petitions were challenged by David Bonaroti, D-Lawrenceville, who secured the Democratic nomination for the council seat.

????CAMPAIGN UPDATE????
It’s no secret that this has been a turbulent election cycle for our team. Liv has been honest about the struggles she faced (as a Black women running for political office in Allegheny County). With that being said Liv will not be running for re-election.

— Liv Bennett (@Liv1Bennett) July 31, 2023

Following her withdrawal, Bennett announced she would be running as an independent in the general election, but Monday’s announcement puts that effort to an end. That means Allegheny County Council District 13 will see a new representative come 2024.

In a blog post on her campaign website, Bennett acknowledged her team has had a turbulent election cycle, and said it was a tough decision to announce her withdrawal.

“After much prayer and counsel, I have decided to choose myself,” she wrote.

Bennett was first elected in 2019 along with progressive firebrand Bethany Hallam, D-Brighton Heights.

She wrote she was proud of accomplishments like banning LGBTQ conversion therapy and hair discrimination in Allegheny County, and creating the first countywide Independent Police Review Board.

Bennett has advocated for better racial equity in Allegheny County, particularly calling out the poor economic and health statistics among the county’s Black women.

She was a key player and voted for many of the council’s progressive pushes, including overriding successful vetoes to ban fracking in county-owned parks and increase the minimum wage for county employees.

But she also has recently butted heads with progressive leadership in the region. She endorsed Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein in the executive race, despite being a former ally of former state Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, the Democrats’ eventual nominee for county executive.

In her blog post, Bennett endorsed the independent campaign of Samantha Schmidt, member of Democratic Socialists of America.