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Fitzgerald Declared Winner In County Executive Race

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Rich Fitzgerald has won the race for Allegheny County Chief Executive.

Fitzgerald, a Democrat, defeated Mt. Lebanon Republican D. Raja.

After four terms as president of Allegheny County Council, Fitzgerald announced he received a congratulatory phone call from Raja at the IBEW hall. Fitzgerald stood before a crowd of supporters where he thanked his supporters and talked about the campaign.

"The leadership in Harrisburg -- I can't thank them enough: Jay Costa, Wayne Fontana, Frank Dermody, Dan Frankel and the leadership in the house who decided I was worth getting behind. They put their necks on the line.

"It feels good standing up here now, but seven or eight months ago it was no sure thing. We all understood that. We were running against a formidable name, a formidable opponent, a formidable person who has done a good job.

"But we were able to get out there and work hard and get out our message. And then we ran a fall campaign. And quite frankly we were outspent two to one. My opponent spent $1.7 million and we spent half of that. And we won by two to one -- that's an amazing thing," Fitzgerald said to the crowd."

Raja, once a Mt. Lebanon Commissioner, owns an IT company with about 100 local employees.

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