Paige Cognett is challenging Rob Bresnahan to represent Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District.
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Paige Cognetti (D) currently serves as the mayor of Scranton. She originally ran as an independent against a Democratic establishment, adopting the slogan, “Paige Against the Machine.”
Cognetti highlights reforms she brought to the city during her time in office, including work to balance the city’s books, battle corruption and cut red tape.
“I’m running for Congress in PA-08 to take on a corrupt Washington that has left our community behind. Politicians keep getting richer and our costs keep rising,” reads a statement on her campaign website. “My public service career has been dedicated to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in government. I’m ready to take that fight to the place that needs it most: a Washington controlled by special interests and self-serving politicians who put the people last.”
Cognetti has targeted Bresnahan for his record on health care (Bresnahan made statements prior to the vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill that he would not vote to gut Medicaid), and for his stock trading.
In an early 2026 visit to Honesdale, Cognetti told gathered constituents there is a need to get a check and balance back in Washington, and that flipping Congress is “absolutely imperative.”
“As mayor of Scranton, I hear stories every single day, already, about somebody who’s dropped their health coverage, somebody whose kid has an IEP and no longer has a teacher’s aide with them, and is suffering… We need the stories to be able to show folks and make sure that they get out to vote, that they understand what’s at stake, that they understand the pain that these votes have caused, that these administration policies have caused,” she said.
Rob Bresnahan (R) first won election to PA-08 in 2024, replacing long-time Rep. Matt Cartwright. Prior to holding public office, Bresnahan took over as the third generation of leadership at an electrical contracting company.
Bresnahan has highlighted a presence and investment in local communities during his time in office, appearing in Honesdale following major flooding to support infrastructure repair, and coming to the Wallenpaupack Area School District to express support for the Wayne/Pike Career and Technical Education Center.
Bresnahan’s record while in office includes a vote to support the One Big Beautiful Bill, which cut taxes on overtime and included other benefits to businesses and employees. The bill also included substantial cuts to Medicaid, in the form of increased work requirements.
Political leaders and local health care officials have touted Bresnahan’s work in shaping the bill’s Rural Health Transformation Fund, a $50 billion fund meant to offset the bill’s impact on rural health care. According to Rep. Lisa McLain, Bresnahan was in Trump’s office as the bill was being finalized, advocating for rural Pennsylvania to be covered by that fund.
Bresnahan held discussions before and after the bill with regional health care officials to discuss the needs of the local health care industry. Speaking after one such discussion in December 2026, he said, “The concept of today’s roundtable [was] to hear from all different perspectives and ultimately give me marching orders to go back to Washington D.C. and find out intuitive ways that we can enhance health care for people in northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Bresnahan has also indicated his support for overturning the Delaware River Basin Commission’s ban on fracking in the river basin. He convened a 2025 roundtable with local politicians, business leaders and community activists to discuss the unfairness of the ban.
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