Paige Cognetti Decisively Wins PA-08 Congressional Debate

Paige highlighted her successful record delivering for NEPA while holding Congressman Rob Bresnahan accountable for the harm he’s brought to our community

PITTSTON, PA – Scranton Mayor and candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District Paige Cognetti tonight won a decisive victory on the debate stage as she highlighted her strong record cleaning up corruption and delivering for NEPA, shared her vision for how government should serve the people, and held Rob Bresnahan to account for prioritizing personal profit over Pennsylvanians.

“This election is a choice between a reformer who will shake up a broken Washington and fight for families, or a congressman who in his short time in office has shown he is only interested in serving himself. Tonight’s debate only further proved that Paige Cognetti is the honest, independent leader that NEPA needs to fight for them in Congress,” said Paige for PA campaign manager Anna Korman. “In these final days, Paige will continue connecting with voters across the district to share her strong record and her plan to take on Washington’s culture of corruption to deliver a government that works for the people.”

Paige has spent the last decade serving Northeastern Pennsylvanians. She’s taken on special interests and her own party to lower costs, clean up corruption, and keep her community safe. Rob Bresnahan has spent his time in office lining his pockets at the expense of Northeastern Pennsylvanians. He campaigned on a pledge to ban congressional stock trading, then went on to become one of the most prolific traders in Congress – unloading Medicaid-provider stocks and dumping Pennsylvania hospital bonds within days of voting to gut Medicaid, buying defense stocks before the first U.S. strikes in Iran, and investing in data center related stock while pushing for data center development. Northeastern Pennsylvanians deserve a leader who looks out for them. Paige Cognetti will be that leader.

ABOUT PAIGE:

Paige Cognetti lives in Scranton with her husband and two daughters. Prior to her tenure as Mayor, Paige served on the Scranton School Board in 2017 and as a special assistant to the Pennsylvania Auditor General in 2018 where she worked to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in government. 

In 2019, Paige ran for mayor of Scranton as an Independent, taking on the local political establishment in a campaign that was referred to as “Paige Against The Machine.” Paige chose to run as an Independent after the then-mayor resigned after pleading guilty to federal bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges. Paige stunned Scranton’s political establishment when she won thanks to her promise to clean up the corruption in Scranton. Paige was the first woman ever elected Scranton Mayor, and was eight months pregnant when she won. Paige ran for reelection as a Democrat in 2021, winning a full term with over 71% of the vote and beating the Machine again. She beat the longtime local Democratic boss with 76% of the vote in the Democratic Primary in May of 2025.  

As Mayor of Scranton, Paige has made government reform a top priority. In office she has:

• Turned down the city government car and gas card
• Eliminated cash payments and took on no bid contracts
• Took on utilities and fought big businesses gouging consumers
• Held more than 100 public events across every neighborhood in the city
• Cut red tape, slashing building permit fees 
• Led the city’s credit rating to investment-grade status
• Saved millions for taxpayers by refinancing bonds

Paige has reinvigorated the city’s finances and helped attract new businesses while simultaneously laying a solid foundation for a brighter future — restoring confidence through responsible government and reimagining outdated ways of doing business. 

Now Paige is running for Congress to clean up corruption in Washington and give the people of NEPA a Congresswoman who will work just as hard as they do. Congressman Bresnahan campaigned on a pledge to ban congressional stock trading, but has instead made more than 600 trades worth millions in assets since arriving in Washington. When pressed by WVIA on why he won’t stop trading stocks while in office, Bresnahan – who has reported assets in the tens of millions – complained that he did not want to “lose money and go broke.” Most recently, unearthed audio revealed that Bresnahan admitted to speaking with his financial advisor about his upcoming stock positions while voting in Congress.

For more on Paige’s campaign, go to PaigeforPA.com.

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