The Lackawanna County Board of Elections will meet Monday morning to certify the results of the May 19 primary election.
Composed of commissioners in years when the office of commissioner isn’t on the ballot, the election board’s formal certification vote is scheduled for 9 a.m. in the fifth-floor conference room of the county government center in downtown Scranton. It will make official the results of a mostly quiet primary cycle featuring relatively few contested races and low voter turnout, particularly among Republicans, in Lackawanna County.
But the humdrum primary did determine major party nominations for what will be a much more consequential November election featuring a midterm race in the 8th Congressional District and contested races in state Senate and House districts in the county, as well as a statewide gubernatorial race between incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and GOP challenger Stacy Garrity, the current state treasurer.
The 8th District race between first-term incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Dallas Twp. and Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, expected to be among the most competitive midterm contests in the country, will be the most closely watched race in the region this fall. It’s largely considered a toss-up at this point and could have major implications on the balance of power in the House of Representatives as the GOP fights to hold and Democrats work to win back majority control of the lower chamber for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term.
At left, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan walks out of the Dallas Township Municipal Office Road Department building after voting on Election Day in Dallas Twp. SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. At right, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti stops to talk inside Isaac Tripp Elementary School in Scranton on Tuesday. CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO
In state-level races, a pair of incumbent state senators who represent Lackawanna County constituents will face challengers in November.
In the 22nd Senate District that includes parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, Democratic Sen. Marty Flynn of Dunmore will face Republican Sharon Soltis Sparano of La Plume Twp. after comfortably defeating progressive newcomer Jeffrey Lake of Clarks Summit in the Democratic primary.
And in the 40th Senate District spanning parts of Lackawanna and Wayne and all of Monroe County, Republican Sen. Rosemary Brown of Middle Smithfield Twp. will face Democrat Brian Wrightson of Archbald after neither candidate faced a primary challenger.
All state House districts in or including parts of Lackawanna County also will feature contested races in November.
In the 112th District, incumbent Democratic state Rep. Kyle Mullins of Blakely faces a challenge from Republican Joseph J. Sabia Jr. of Archbald in a race where data centers promise to remain a potent political issue. Tamara Misewicz-Healey, a co-founder of the 12,000-plus-member Stop Archbald Data Centers movement, has also announced a write-in campaign for the 112th District seat.
Elsewhere in the county, incumbent Democratic state Reps. Kyle Mullins of Scranton and Bridget Kosierowski of Wavery Twp. will face Republican challengers Lucas O’Brien of Moscow and Logan Lombardo of Clarks Summit in the 113th and 114th districts, respectively.
Lombardo defeated fellow Republican David Burgerhoff in the 114th District GOP primary, setting up his November matchup with Kosierowski, who defeated Burgerhoff in 2022 and didn’t face a Republican challenger in 2024.
Finally, in the 118th District that includes parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, incumbent Democratic state Rep. Jim Haddock of Pittston Twp. will fight to fend off a challenge from Republican Luzerne County Councilman John Lombardo of Pittston.
While Democratic and Republican party nominations in those and other races are now set, it’s still possible that independent, third-party or otherwise unaffiliated candidates emerge between now and November.
The last day for those candidates to file nomination papers to appear on the November ballot is Aug. 3.
The last day to register to vote in the November election is Oct. 19, the last to apply for a civilian absentee or mail-in ballot for that contest is Oct. 27, and the election itself is Nov. 3.
Results from the May 19 primary that the county election board will certify Monday, and certified results from prior elections, are available online at lackawannacounty.org.