SCRANTON, PA — Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti announced she has raised more than $500K in less than a month since launching her campaign for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, running against Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan. Paige’s impressive Q3 haul demonstrates that northeastern Pennsylvanians support her mission to root out corruption in Washington.

In addition to her strong fundraising haul out of the gate, Cognetti’s campaign launch video has racked up more than 1 million views across social media platforms and polling shows her already in the lead. 

She entered the race with significant local support, including endorsements from Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, former Congressman Matt Cartwright and Congressman Chris Deluzio.

Cognetti lives in Scranton with her husband and two daughters. Prior to her tenure as mayor, she 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, Cognetti 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.” She chose to run as an Independent after the then-mayor resigned after pleading guilty to federal bribery, conspiracy and extortion charges. 

Cognetti the first woman ever elected mayor of Scranton, and was eight months pregnant when she won. She ran for reelection as a Democrat in 2021, winning a full term with over 71 percent of the vote and beating the machine again. She beat the longtime local Democratic boss with 76 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary in May of 2025. 

As Mayor of Scranton, Cognetti 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

Cognetti 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laying a solid foundation for a brighter future—restoring confidence through responsible government and reimagining outdated ways of doing business. 

Cognetti 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.

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

Contributed by PaigeforPA.com.