WATCH: Paige Cognetti Vows to Take on a Broken Washington On The 11th Hour With Ali Velshi

“You have to be able to call out corruption wherever you see it”

SCRANTON, PA – Paige Cognetti joined The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi to talk about her record of rooting out corruption, how she’s put public service ahead of self-interest, and her plans to fight for reform in Congress and shake up a broken Washington.

“It is a very simple concept: government should work as hard as the people it serves. You should get into public service for the service, not yourself. We got into office in 2020 and I didn’t take a city car, didn’t take a gas card, didn’t take a raise. You need to show people you’re there for them. We need to do that in Washington on both sides of the aisle.”

“It’s really really important that we don’t just talk, we show the American people we are hearing them. We know they are begging for reform. It is time to fix a broken Washington.”

Paige stressed the importance of taking on corruption wherever we see it and highlighted her anti-corruption agenda, which includes eight different reforms including a congressional stock trading ban, term limits, a ban on corporate PAC donations, and more to challenge the current culture of corruption that allows politicians to line their pockets at the expense of their constituents.

WATCH THE FULL SEGMENT HERE

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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