Longtime Pittsburgh councilman announces he will not seek re-election

PITTSBURGH — The leader of the Southside District is hanging up his hat on City Council at the end of the year.

“I believe it was time to create opportunity for those that want to come after us and in order to do that we have to clear the way,” said Bruce Kraus.

Kraus has served District 3 since 2008. When he first announced his intent to run, he was one of the first openly gay men to do so.

“What’s great today is that we have evolved it’s become nonissue you can say a brown trans woman in the state of Arizona won a state seat and we can move on with the conversation and I’m proud to have been at the beginning of that,” Kraus said.

He’s worked under three administrations from Ravenstahl to Peduto and now Ganiey. He even served as council president from 2014 to 2020.

As for the most pivotal moment in his career, he said it’s hard to narrow it down to just one.

“We saved the pension fund and it’s as healthy as it’s been thank god. The almost collapse of the water authority what a difficult challenging time it was and how dedicated our water system was healthy and lead lines would get replaced and water system would never ever be privatized,” Kraus said.

He also looks back upon helping the city finances from the brink of bankruptcy through Act 47 and into today as his final years were spent navigating a global pandemic and saving jobs.

“You can’t represent people for that length of time and be engaged with them on a day-to-day basis without them becoming personal friends and I would like to say I’ll miss them but they are personal friends so I will continue to be engaged in their lives and continue the friendships we’ve formed over the years,” Kraus said.

As for what’s next, Kraus isn’t quite sure, but said he might return to his roots by starting another business. As for his council seat, one of his staff members has already announced he will be running in May.

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