WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE CO. (WOLF) — As Pennsylvania’s congressional race begins to take shape, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who announced her bid for the Democratic nomination last September, held a press conference on Wednesday to discuss her campaign and key issues in the race.

Cognetti also responded to the controversy surrounding Republican incumbent Rob Bresnahan, prompting a sharp reaction from his team.

Cognetti, running as a Democratic candidate on the primary ballot for the 8th Congressional District, said Wednesday during a news conference that she leads with integrity as she prepares to challenge Congressman Rob Bresnahan.

She addressed the controversy surrounding Bresnahan after an April 2025 appearance on the Bob Cordaro Show, where he said he meets with his financial advisor to discuss “what different positions are coming up.” However, during a June 10, 2025, telephone town hall with Northeastern Pennsylvania constituents, he said he does not have “dialogues with his financial advisors.”

Bresnahan has since faced criticism over potential conflicts of interest related to his investment portfolio while voting in Congress, which Cognetti communicated.

“You have to lead with honesty because people cannot trust you if you don’t, and you cannot truly lead and serve and make good decisions for others. If you are not truthful. Rob Bresnahan, saying he doesn’t speak to his financial advisor, but actually speaking with his financial advisor is sickening in itself,” said Cognetti.

“To use his own word, he called congressional stock trading sickening from the jump in 2024, in his own op ed saying that he was going to ban congressional stock trading. We all know he has instead become one of the most active stock traders in Congress, and he can’t even be honest with us about how he talks to, how frequently he talks to, and if he talks to his financial advisor,” said Cognetti.

In response to these claims, Bresnahan Campaign spokesman Chris Pack told FOX56:

“It’s nice to see that Mayor Cognetti is once again blowing off her job at Scranton City Hall in the middle of the workday to travel to Wilkes-Barre to focus on her vanity congressional campaign. Rob Bresnahan has consistently said that he does not have any involvement in stock trades, no matter how much Goldman Sachs private wealth advisor Paige Cognetti tries to take his comments out of context to prop up her campaign,” said Pack.

Cognetti also outlined the first steps she would take if sworn into Congress.

“The first item of business is making sure that congressional stock trading is in fact, illegal. It is sickening. It is something that makes people angry, not just in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but throughout the country. There’s a reason that there are multiple bills in Congress floating around right now. I don’t know if they’ll go anywhere between now and the end of the year, but it is certainly something that makes people very angry,” said Cognetti.

“In addition to other pieces of legislation, where, for example, as mayor, I don’t have the luxury of not passing a budget. Something like no budget, no pay. The members of Congress having a CR as they keep kicking the can, the least they could do is not get paid while they’re not able to do their jobs. There are things that we have to do as regular citizens or things that mayors or county commissioners have to do, and make sure that they work across the aisle and get something done. Members of Congress need to be held more accountable,” said Cognetti.

Cognetti said that as November approaches, she expects the electorate to shift in 2026, similar to the changes seen between November 2024 and November 2025.

“The election in November is going to be about who a person is and why they want to represent you. I think we’ve gotten to a really dark place in American politics right now. I think people are looking for the person that is going to represent them, not the party. I think you’ll see, as we saw the difference between November 2024 and November 2025, saw the electorate really shift in that way. I think we’ll see that again in 2026,” said Cognetti.