The Democratic Primary race for County Exec was significantly more competitive than that of the Republican race, but the final margin was wider than expected.

Rich Fitzgerald won with 66,123 votes to Mark Flaherty’s 52,558. With 56% of the vote, Fitzgerald was clearly favored by 55% of the county’s Democratic voters.

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Governor Ed Rendell said that, “[Fitzgerald] was organized, had a clear message and he got the vote out…Rich worked his butt off. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as Rich and his family.” The campaign of Fitzgerald focused heavily on getting the word out day yesterday and encouraging voters to leave their houses despite the weather.

Fitzgerald’s campaign celebrated for an 8pm Election night party at IBEW Local 5 last night. He will now face Republican candidate D. Raja, who largely beat his opponent, Chuck McCollough, with 71% of the votes.

Raja may have some difficulty in the November election, considering the stepping stones that Dan Onorato seems to have laid down for Fitzgerald.

But, on the topic of his future chance of winning, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review quotes Raja saying, “Tonight’s victory is a first step in the long and difficult journey to win Allegheny County.”