Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti’s (D-PA) decision to pursue a seat in Congress while simultaneously seeking — and ultimately winning — re-election as mayor on November 4, 2025, has raised concerns across Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District where she continues to campaign to unseat freshman GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan in 2026.
In her re-election campaign for mayor, Cognetti underperformed her 2021 margin of victory by 15 points, signaling weakening support in the very city she now asks to serve at the federal level. The NRCC seized on the dual-office bid, with spokesman Reilly Richardson stating, “Being a shameless political opportunist isn’t easy, so we figured Portland Paige could use help trying to step up the political ladder. Thankfully, it’ll be a short fall back to Earth when she loses next year!”
Independent candidate Gene Barrett and former Democratic primary rival Bob Sheridan were among those who questioned the ethics of Cognetti’s approach, accusing her of using the mayoral election as a “safety net” for higher office. “She wants her cake and eat it too,” Barrett said. “It’s not fair to the voting public.” Sheridan echoed that view, arguing, “If she runs for Congress and her heart’s in Congress, she should step down as mayor. It wasn’t fair to me that she did that. That’s not fair to the people of the city of Scranton.”
These concerns were reinforced by local voter Brendan Chalk in a recent interview, who stated, “Don’t do it while you’re in the middle of a term,” criticizing Cognetti’s apparent focus on career advancement over governance.
The controversy has been compounded by scrutiny of her personnel decisions while in office. In 2022, Cognetti appointed Michael Villa to the city’s Human Relations Commission while he was facing a DUI charge involving his infant son. In the months following his appointment, Villa was arrested multiple times — including for trespassing, disorderly conduct, and fleeing from police — culminating in a 2025 incident where his actions led to a citywide school lockdown and an assault at a hospital. The city began proceedings to remove him only after that event, despite his absence from the commission for nearly two years.
Former Republican mayoral challenger Trish Beynon contended that Villa “never should have been appointed,” faulting Cognetti for failing to properly vet him and questioning the delay in his removal. Councilman Mark McAndrew likewise noted that criminal background checks were not added to the city’s vetting process until early 2024, calling the oversight a serious issue that needed fixing.
Cognetti has also faced backlash for her role in blocking a proposed expansion of Scranton’s Geisinger Community Medical Center, one of only two emergency rooms in the city. In 2023, despite originally voicing support for the hospital’s plan to alleviate overcrowding and prevent ER patients from being treated in closets and bathrooms, she ultimately signed a zoning ordinance limiting the height of new hospital structures. The result was the cancellation of the expansion project in 2024, even as nearby hospitals faced closure and local emergency care infrastructure became increasingly strained.
In recent weeks, the NRCC has spotlighted a series of personal and political missteps involving Cognetti that have gained traction on social media, including:
- A video of her using her phone during a Veterans Day ceremony, which the NRCC likened to President Biden checking his watch during a military funeral.
- A resurfaced photo of Cognetti in University of Oregon attire, used to portray her as disconnected from Pennsylvania values.
- Reports that she broke a no-tax-hike pledge by raising taxes three times, according to a widely circulated article.
- Her ties to out-of-state progressive operatives including consultants associated with New York Democratic Socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
With a challenge from Scranton’s mayor on the horizon, Rep. Rob Bresnahan enters the 2026 election as a first-term Republican incumbent buoyed by a series of legislative wins, including the Mid Atlantic River Basin Commissions Review Act, the CEASE Act to limit risky small business lending, and the Simplifying Forms for Veterans Claims Act. Bresnahan also brings deep roots in northeastern Pennsylvania, a business background credited with creating hundreds of local jobs, and a campaign that has knocked on more than 30,000 doors while driving increased participation from low-propensity Republican voters, who his team says are turning out at a rate of 17 percent compared to 11 percent among Democrats.