Mayor JoJo Burgess believes Washington, Pennsylvania, is “the best-kept secret” in his corner of the state.
Burgess speaks proudly of the two-century-old city of about 13,000 people, telling PA Local he’s “honored and humbled” to be its leader while highlighting its roles in American history and youth baseball.
The mayor, raised by a single mother in public housing, has lived in Washington his whole life. After serving in the Gulf War, Burgess began working in steel manufacturing and became involved in organized labor. He later attended the State of the Union as former First Lady Jill Biden’s guest in 2022, and ran for mayor in 2023. When he took office the following year, Burgess made history as the city’s first-ever Black mayor.
Like many other places in the Rust Belt, the Southwest Pennsylvania city has experienced employment and population loss over the decades, Burgess said. But he’s optimistic that the city can thrive and grow once more.
“We are going to make sure that we are the Washington of old that people knew back in the day as being a good, solid place to live, where you can have a job, raise a family, and just be comfortable,” he told PA Local.
For the latest installment in our “Meet a Mayor” series, Burgess spoke with us about his community, what sets it apart from a certain big city that shares its name, and why he believes “Little Washington” has the potential to become “the example of small-town living in this country.”
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
PA Local: Could you describe Washington in three words?
Burgess: Coming back soon.
What was it about Washington that made you want to lead it?
I have four kids, 10 grandkids, one on the way. So it’s almost about to be 11 of them — about to have a football team. My kids do not live around here. I have one in Florida, one in North Carolina, one that is in Houston, Pa., and one that is here in the city of Washington. When I talk to my kids who are in their thirties and twenties, they say, “There is nothing here in Washington. Why would we stay?”
I hear that from this generation of kids, and I thought to myself, Washington is a beautiful place to live. There is stuff here if you go out and get it. And I will bring the stuff here. That is why I chose Washington, and chose to lead Washington, because I believe that there’s a lot of potential here, that people could sustain families here. It is a very nice tight-knit community and we can get things done. We truly can grasp something and bring a whole generation of people back to a city that’s been deprived with the loss of manufacturing jobs and a loss of industry that was so prevalent back in the ‘50s through the ‘80s. And we’ve got to capitalize on it with new technology, new jobs, and new opportunities, and we can do that.
What do you wish people who aren’t from Washington, or maybe haven’t been there, knew about it?
We’re on our way back. This is the biggest little secret in Southwestern Pennsylvania, I believe. One thing that’s unique about Washington, which attracts businesses: We sit at a place where our highway system … can take you as far west as California, as far north as Canada, as far south as Florida, and as far east as the Atlantic Ocean. We sit right there at the crossroads of [Interstates] 70 and 79.
There is so much opportunity here in Washington, you just gotta come and get it, because we’re here to work for everyone to have it. Because if we can have those type of opportunities for the people that live here and the people that bring businesses here, then we just grow all that and everybody succeeds together.
What is your favorite hidden gem in Washington?
I would say our historic value to the country. Whether it comes to the Whiskey Rebellion [or] the stops on the Underground Railroad back in the day, [Washington] was definitely a hotbed for history. Another thing about Washington and Washington County is we had a Black regiment of soldiers during the Civil War that were right from this area. In fact, my third great-grandfather was the last living Black Civil War veteran in the state of Pennsylvania back when he died.
There are a lot of places, pretty well-known ones, named Washington, like the state, the capital of the U.S. How do you differentiate your Washington when you tell people where you’re from?
If you go into Pittsburgh … and you say you’re from Washington, they will ask you: “Do you mean D.C. or Little Washington?” We’re Little Washington, and I’m okay with that. That’s how we differentiate. We’re Little Washington, because Big Washington don’t act like us.
What do you think is the biggest thing that sets Little Washington apart from Big Washington?
We’re our own unique functioning entity, and we all work together. Right now that’s not happening in Big Washington. I believe that everybody here has a collective goal for everybody to succeed, and we all work at that, and I’ll take that to the bank with anyone. Politics is definitely polarizing the United States right now with some of the things that are happening. We’ve been able to avoid a lot of that national rhetoric that’s going on, and been able to work together regardless of what party we’re from to get common things done for our residents here.
What’s your favorite tradition or fun fact about Washington?
I'm going to give you the biggest one. And this is something that’s known worldwide, and that would be the Pony League World Series.
What is that?
In the ‘50s, kids only played Little League until they were 12 years old. After a certain age, there was nowhere for them to play baseball. So Pony League was created for those kids. Thousands … come to Washington for the Pony League World Series. We crown a princess.
I actually got with the mayor of Williamsport, because next year I’m going to go to the Little League World Series, and I’m going to have him down here in Washington as my guest for the Pony League World Series.
It’s all about taking care of our youth in the community and giving them options and things to do. We’re bringing people from all over the world to Washington in late July, early August every year to go ahead and let these kids come and compete, and rooting them on and watching good sportsmanship, and it’s televised. The Pony League World Series is probably the biggest gem that we have, because it’s also booming for the local economy because hotels are taken up, restaurants are full — it’s great for everybody.
Is there a particular Pennsylvania city, borough, or township you think we should feature in future “Meet a Mayor” installments? Let us know.