HARRISBURG — Democrats nominated new mayors in Pittsburgh, Scranton and Harrisburg in the Pennsylvania primary election.

They tapped veteran city Councilman William Peduto as their standard-bearer in Pittsburgh and city Tax Collector Bill Courtright in Scranton, but spurned Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson’s re-election bid and chose bookstore owner Eric Papenfuse instead on Tuesday. And they handed Mayor Kim Bracey an apparent second term in York, where no Republican is running.

In the only statewide nomination race, Allegheny County Judge Jack McVay Jr. won the Democratic nomination for an open seat on the Superior Court, defeating Philadelphia Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters Jr.

In Butler County, Democratic voters backed McVay over Waters, 3,917 to 659.

Peduto and Courtright both won four-way races that resulted from decisions by the incumbent Democratic mayors — Pittsburgh’s Luke Ravenstahl and Scranton’s Chris Doherty — not to run.

“We stood up and we said our rivers are not seas, and our hills are not mountains, we are one Pittsburgh and we’ll fight for a new Pittsburgh and we did it,” Peduto said.