Leonard Bodack Jr. lost a bid for the state Senate to Jim Ferlo, but the Democrat will now take Ferlo's seat on Pittsburgh City Council.
Bodack, the son of a retired state senator, won by a slim margin during Tuesday's special election for the District 7 seat, picking up 1,231 votes -- 27 percent of the 4,640 votes cast.
Trailing closely in the balloting were: Mitch Kates, 1,178 votes (25.4 percent), and Nancy Noszka, 1,168 votes (25.2 percent).
Bodack, 46, of Stanton Heights, said that as a city councilman he wants to create a District 7 with a vibrant business district and residential area.
"I think we can turn around Lawrenceville the same way the South Side was. I'm going to work very hard to make that happen."
Bodack was the operations director for the Allegheny County Democrat Committee and is replacing Ferlo, who resigned in January after being elected to the state Senate. Ferlo replaced Bodack's father, Leonard Bodack Sr., who retired after 24 years in the state Senate.
Bodack lost to Ferlo in the Democratic primary for state senator last May.
Bodack is a graduate of Central Catholic High School and previously worked as a mechanical draftsman and an automobile mechanic. He and his wife, Sharon, have three children.
There are 24,301 registered voters in City Council District 7, and only 19.7 percent of them went to the polls yesterday, according to the Allegheny County Elections Bureau.
Bodack will serve the final 10 months of Ferlo's four-year term. Voters will return to the polls for the May 20 primary to determine the nominees for a full four-year term. The general election is Nov. 4.
The other candidates in the race were: Independent Renee Farrow, 44, of Stanton Heights, who received 669 votes (14.4 percent) ; independent Bob Stumpp, 55, of Highland Park, 275 votes (5.9 percent); and Republican Bruce Brantley, 66, of Highland Park, 119 votes (2.6 percent).
Noszka, 43, of Morningside; Kates, 38, of Highland Park, and Farrow had been running as Democrats but switched over as independents after Bodack received the Democrat nomination.
City Council District 7 includes Highland Park, Stanton Heights, Lawrenceville, Garfield and parts of Bloomfield, Morningside and Polish Hill. Council members this year will be paid $53,687.
