Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti has announced her campaign for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th District against Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan. She is running to clean up corruption in Washington and fight for the hardworking people of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Paige first ran for mayor as an Independent, “sparring with the Democratic machine” in an insurgent campaign that was dubbed “Paige Against The Machine.” After Paige shocked the political establishment and won, she took on the bosses in her own party to clean up City Hall and get government back to working for the people. 

In Scranton, Paige has shown what government can do when leaders root out corruption and work as hard as the people they are elected to serve.

Now, Paige is running to clean up a corrupt Washington and defeat Rob Bresnahan, who has become the poster child of the swamp.  

“Nobody works harder than the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and we are tired of corrupt politicians lying to us and leaving us behind,” said Paige. “When I first ran for mayor, I ran as an Independent against a Democratic machine that wanted to keep using city government to benefit themselves. I took on the machine to clean up City Hall and we got to work, for the people, by cutting red tape, fixing our finances, attracting new businesses, putting more cops on the beat, building new parks and making real reforms. Now I’m running for Congress to take on a corrupt Washington that has left our community behind while politicians get richer, our costs keep rising, and we get sold out.”

“Congressman Rob Bresnahan lied when he promised he would ban congressional stock trading, and he lied when he said he would protect access to health care,” she continued. “What’s even worse is that Bresnahan is profiting off our pain, playing the stock market while voting to screw us over in Washington. We won’t sit back as Bresnahan day trades away our future. So I’m running against the machine again to stand up for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania and make Congress work as hard as they do.”

Paige has made tackling corruption a core part of her mission as Mayor, and it’s a major reason why she is stepping up to run against Congressman Rob Bresnahan. Bresnahan’s first months in office have been defined by his broken promises and prolific stock trading, and by his vote to rip away health care from thousands of our neighbors in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

Bresnahan campaigned on a pledge to ban congressional stock trading, but has instead become one of the top stock traders in Congress throughout his first months in office. Bresnahan has made more than 600 trades worth millions in assets since arriving in Washington. When pressed by WVIA recently on why he simply 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.”

Bresnahan’s stock trades have made headlines for coinciding with the timing of key votes that he has taken in Washington. Multiple news outlets reported that Bresnahan dumped stock in a Medicaid provider shortly before voting for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history. Additionally, recent reporting revealed that Bresnahan “sold off between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of bonds issued by the Allegheny County Hospital Development Authority,” which “came after a report identified 10 rural hospitals in Pennsylvania that faced immediate risk of closure.” It has also been reported that Bresnahan has traded energy, defense, and transportation stocks around key votes and market shifts, and that he has “taken steps to hide” the fact that he owns a private helicopter.

Bresnahan has also faced scrutiny after he promised the hardworking people of NEPA that he would not gut Medicaid, but nonetheless voted to cut roughly $1 trillion from the health care program in order to fund more tax cuts for billionaires. Bresnahan’s vote could take health care away from more than 30,000 people in PA-08, with “more than a quarter” of the district relying on Medicaid to receive health care.

Paige enters the race with significant local support and has earned the day one endorsement of Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, former Congressman Matt Cartwright, and Congressman Chris Deluzio. In 2022, Gov. Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis carried PA-08 by more than 9 percentage points.

“Mayor Paige Cognetti’s proven leadership in Scranton, commitment to transparency and innovative policies, make her the ideal candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th District,” said former NEPA Congressman Matt Cartwright (PA-08). “Her vision and tireless advocacy for working families promise real progress for our communities. I strongly support her candidacy for Congress, and I thank her for having the courage and tenacity to step up and do this.”

paigeforpa.com
Scranton, PA