Editor’s note: We are publishing a series of fact-checks of advertisements in the Pennsylvania 8th Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan of Dallas Twp. and his Democratic challenger, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti. The election is key to both major parties’ hopes of holding a House majority the next two years.

The 30-second ad is paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee, a registered political party committee that must fully disclose its donors. The ad is authorized by Bresnahan’s campaign, Rob For PA, and approved by the candidate.

It begins with a clip from a Cognetti ad on data center policy, in which she is standing in what appears to be a machine shop, holding an open laptop. A narrator asks, “What is Paige Cognetti hiding in her laptop?”

Several photos of Cognetti appear throughout. In one, she is wearing a COVID mask, holding a bullhorn with the Biden/Harris 2020 logo. In another, she is seen smiling alongside a local drag performer planning to legally challenge the use of his photo in the ad. The photo was taken during a Pride flag-raising event at Scranton City Hall in 2025.

“Don’t let her hide who she is,” the narrator says as the ad concludes. “The real Paige Cognetti is with them, not us.”

Key claim

“Cognetti backed them over us. Now, Cognetti is a member of the radical group trying to force grown men in girls bathrooms and women’s sports.”

Is it factual?

At the very best, the ad should be considered misleading.

There is no record of Cognetti taking a stance on either of the main issues she is alleged to support: Allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports, or transgender people to use women’s bathrooms.

The source material cited does not even loosely associate Cognetti with a position on either issue.

In regards to the bathroom issue, a news article used as a source serves as an extended explainer of a recently proposed anti-discrimination ordinance in Luzerne County and does not mention Cognetti by name. The other cites a post on social media platform Bluesky from June 28; There is no post from that date — or any — on the platform linking Cognetti to that stance.

As for allowing transgender athletes to compete athletically with biological females, the ad cites an April 1, 2025, post from Action Together NEPA, a progressive organization. On its Facebook feed, the group did post on that date, asking supporters to demand state senators vote against the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which requires public school districts and colleges throughout the state to designate sports teams as male, female, or coed based on biological sex at birth.

Cognetti was not mentioned in the post.

However, Cognetti has publicly supported broader LBGTQ+ measures, like an ordinance banning conversion therapy on LGBTQ youths in Scranton. In 2021, she appeared at a rally at Scranton City Hall in support of the transgender and nonbinary community. She has held flag-raising ceremonies there, too, to celebrate Pride Week. She was endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign as a “pro-equality candidate.”