And in York and Harrisburg, voters picked Democrats to become their first black female mayors.

Ravenstahl, 29, became the youngest mayor of a large U.S. city when he inherited the seat in September 2006 from his predecessor, Bob O'Connor, who died just months into office from a rare brain cancer. Ravenstahl then won an election in 2007 to complete O'Connor's term.

Yesterday, Ravenstahl, a Democrat, beat independent challengers Kevin Acklin, 31, a lawyer, and Franco "Dok" Harris, 30, son of the former Pittsburgh Steelers star, for the seat.

Two of the biggest issues Ravenstahl will face are dealing with a serious pension-fund issue and making sure Pittsburgh, considered financially distressed by the state, continues to operate in a surplus. Only 30 percent of Pittsburgh's pensions are funded, one of the worst situations nationwide for a large metropolitan area.

The city of York elected its first black mayor, 40 years after violent race riots in the central Pennsylvania town led to the death of a white police officer and a black woman.

Kim Bracey beat Republican Wendell Banks. Democratic voters in York outnumber Republicans by nearly a 2-1 margin.

Bracey is the city's former director of community development.

For the first time in 27 years, Harrisburg has a new mayor - also a black woman. The heavily Democratic city is about 56 percent black.

Linda Thompson, the Harrisburg City Council president, beat Republican challenger Nevin Mindlin, a lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Thompson will replace longtime Mayor Stephen Reed, whom she beat in the Democratic primary.

Voters in Allentown overwhelmingly reelected Mayor Ed Pawlowski. The 42-year-old Democrat beat Republican challenger and Allentown City Councilman Tony Phillips. Phillips spent 21 years as a city police officer before retiring in 2004.

Pawlowski has lived in Allentown since 1996, when he came to Pennsylvania to become the president of the nonprofit Alliance for Building Communities.

In corruption-tarnished Luzerne County, Democrats William Amesbury, a Wilkes-Barre district judge, and Tina Polachek Gartley edged out Republican lawyer Richard Hughes for a pair of open seats.

All three candidates pledged to help restore public trust in the aftermath of a scandal involving two former county court judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, charged with accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks for sentencing juvenile offenders to private detention centers.