Pittsburgh Councilman William Peduto, a Democrat, easily bested Republican Greg Neugebauer in the only officially contested race for seats on the city's nine-member legislative branch.

Mr. Neugebauer, 26, argued that city government was ripe for partisan diversity after seven decades without a GOP representative, and said he'd fight for limited government. Mr. Peduto, 45, met him with a thicket of environmentally friendly legislation in the campaign's closing month and even floated a proposal for East End commuter rail service.

Mr. Peduto now enters his third term. "I will be the senior member of council," he said. He plans to "steer, not row. ... We're not even close to being out of the woods, financially. Our projections are that we basically just survive, and I want to do more than that."

He said he'll work to "break the political machine structure" that he believes still runs city government, and work with other cities to craft "a new urban agenda for Pennsylvania."

Results weren't immediately available for a write-in campaign for Councilwoman Tonya Payne, who lost to Robert Daniel Lavelle in the May Democratic primary. The Allegheny County Elections Division does not tabulate write-in votes on election night. Mr. Lavelle said his poll watchers did not report high numbers of write-in votes.

Ms. Payne's supporters ran a surprise push with the motto, "Don't write her off, write her in!"

The write-in push spurred charges that Ms. Payne's supporters were in polls helping voters through the write-in process, and Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Edward Borkowski ordered any such practice stopped. Ms. Payne said her voters were intimidated by Mr. Lavelle's supporters.

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