Incumbent Democrat Conn Scully, the former City Council President who had assumed the executive rank in October 1936, after the resignation of William McNair, was elected to a first full term.

The McNair administration had been shrouded in controversy, including hostile relations between the mayor and both city council and the county bureaucracy, as well as a slow response to the devastating St. Patrick's Day Flood.

Scully had been a vocal McNair adversary and was closely connected to David L. Lawrence, the state party chairman and city political leader (who later became mayor); this position saved the mayor's office for Democrats, who had been only recently empowered in the city.

The race featured a strong GOP opponent in Bob Waddell, the popular football coach at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Councilman Abe Wolk made the formation of a Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera a major campaign issue for both candidates.