Cognetti declares victory, Bresnahan concedes

SCRANTON — Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti won a decisive victory Tuesday over incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, flipping the 8th Congressional District seat for Democrats on a wildly successful night for her party.

Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, with her daughter Sloane, greets supporters in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The outcome in the district spanning all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties contributed to a broader blue wave that washed away narrow GOP House and Senate majorities, an historic midterm repudiation of Republicans and President Donald Trump.

Declaring victory about 10:45 p.m., shortly after Bresnahan conceded, Cognetti told enthusiastic supporters gathered at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center that the American people are asking for change, “and we are going to give it to them.”

Scranton’s mayor since 2020 and now the district’s congresswoman-elect at age 46, Cognetti earned 152,583 votes, or 54.4%, as of Wednesday morning to Bresnahan’s 128,081, or 45.6%.

Her win makes Bresnahan, 36, a Dallas Twp. resident and Luzerne County businessman first elected to the House in 2024, a one-term congressman.

It also makes Cognetti the first Northeast Pennsylvania woman elected to a full term in Congress and just the second elected to Congress at all. Democrat Veronica Boland of Scranton, widow of the late Congressman Patrick J. Boland, became the first when she won a 1942 special election to fill the final two months of his unexpired term. Boland won that World War II-era special election unopposed and became the first woman to serve in Congress from Pennsylvania, though her tenure was exceedingly brief.

Cognetti’s victory came almost seven years to the day after the Oregon native and Scranton transplant won a 2019 special election for mayor as an independent candidate. She took office as Scranton’s first female mayor in January 2020, assuming leadership of a city government scandalized by disgraced former Democratic Mayor Bill Courtright’s corruption, and made anti-corruption a major theme of her congressional campaign.

Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and her family walk to the podium while greeting supporters in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey introduces Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, with her daughter Sloane, is introduced in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Supportes applaud as Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti speaks at the podium in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti speaks to supporters in the grand ballroom of the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center in downtown Scranton Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Before and after unveiling an ambitious anti-corruption policy agenda this past summer that includes banning congressional stock trading, banning corporate PAC donations and other planks, Cognetti used Bresnahan’s stock trading controversy and support for Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act as cudgels in the 8th District race. The Trump administration’s war with Iran, controversial tariffs and other more-polarizing policy decisions — and its poor performance relative to GOP expectations on economic and affordability issues, a boon for Republicans two years ago — also likely proved a drag on Bresnahan and other GOP incumbents this cycle.

Cognetti’s resignation as mayor to serve in Congress will create the first vacancy in the city’s executive office since 2019, when city council appointed Republican Councilman Wayne Evans to temporarily fill the vacant seat pending the special election Cognetti won. It’s not yet clear who the current council might appoint as an interim mayor or who might emerge as candidates in a subsequent special election next year.

By the time Cognetti addressed her exuberant supporters Tuesday night Democrats were already projected to have won control of the House, erasing the slim majority Republicans carried into the midterms. Democrats ultimately seized control of the U.S. Senate, winning unified control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s second term.

It was a very different election night than two years ago, when a red wave swept Trump back into office and helped Bresnahan defeat longtime incumbent Democratic Congressman Matt Cartwright by a 6,252-vote margin. Cognetti led Bresnahan by about 24,502 votes as of Wednesday morning.

“We left it all on the field,” Bresnahan said Tuesday, addressing his supporters at Sabatini’s Bottle Shop & Bar in Exeter shortly after calling Cognetti to concede. “I truly feel that we did every single thing within our power to be successful in this.”.

Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan speaks to supporters after conceding the election to Democratic opponent Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti during his election night party at Sabatini’s Bottle Shop & Bar in Exeter on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (Kristen Mullen / Contributing Photographer)

Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan is greeted by supporters after conceding the election to Democratic opponent Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti during his election night party at Sabatini’s Bottle Shop & Bar in Exeter on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (Kristen Mullen / Contributing Photographer)

Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan hugs his mother Dodie Stuscavage as his grandmother Rhoda Kuharchik stands to the side after conceding the election to Democratic opponent Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti during his election night party at Sabatini’s Bottle Shop & Bar in Exeter on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (Kristen Mullen / Contributing Photographer)

Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan and his wife Chelsea are greeted by supporters after conceding the election to Democratic opponent Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti during his election night party at Sabatini’s Bottle Shop & Bar in Exeter on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (Kristen Mullen / Contributing Photographer)

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Back at the Hilton, where former longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey introduced Cognetti to the eager crowd, the Scranton native and Democratic stalwart thanked everyone who made Cognetti’s victory possible. He was among the Democrats wiped out by the red wave of 2024, losing the Senate seat he’d held for three terms to Republican Dave McCormick.

“I’ve been through a lot of campaigns over many decades, and I think few of them have made me happier than this campaign,” Casey said.

Cognetti echoed his gratitude.

“This has been a long, long campaign, but my goodness does it feel good tonight,” the congresswoman-elect said. “It took a long time to make sure that we helped the folks of Northeastern Pennsylvania understand that they deserve better. They had good representation before, we had Congressman Cartwright for 12 years, and then we saw what somebody who didn’t quite understand the job was like. So I promise you that I will do the job the way it is supposed to be done.”

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