 His eventual Republican challenger, CEO and adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University Mark DeSantis did not appear on the Republican ballot, instead gaining the nomination through a write-in campaign.DeSantis' candidacy garnered an unusual amount of interest in a city where no Republican had been elected mayor since the Great Depression.He was endorsed by Pittsburgh's two major newspapers, including the conservative-leaning "Pittsburgh Tribune-Review" and the liberal-leaning "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette".