Comparing records in 8th District race
Editor: As midterm elections loom ever closer, I would like to ask voters in Pennsylvania’s 8th district to set feelings aside and to examine and compare the records of both candidates.
Let’s start with the incumbent Rob Bresnahan. Bresnahan has no record of public service prior to 2024. He ran in part on a platform of banning congressional stock trading, yet went on to become one of the most prolific stock traders of his congressional class within the first two years of his freshman term in Congress, making trades worth approximately $8 million. In a tele-townhall, he told constituents “trades are executed on my behalf. I have no dialogues with my financial advisers.” But on a radio interview in April 2025, he admitted that he does in fact discuss upcoming stock positions with his financial advisers.
In the same tele-townhall, Bresnahan promised constituents he wouldn’t vote to pass legislation that would cut funding to Medicaid, but when the time came, he voted to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, slashing Medicaid funding projected to impact at least 310,000 Pennsylvanians. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bresnahan also sold stock in Medicaid provider businesses just prior to voting to cut funding for the program.
Now let’s look at Paige Cognetti’s record of public service as mayor of Scranton. In January 2022, Scranton’s credit rating was boosted to an investment-grade BBB+ rating, ending a 30 year period of financial distress in the city and enabling the city’s bonds to be refinanced, saving Scranton taxpayers $2.2 million. Since then, Scranton hasn’t needed to borrow money to fund day-to-day operations due to maintaining balanced budgets and cash surpluses. She added five new officers to the Scranton Police Department, and invested $5 million into recruitment, training and technology, resulting in 4.1% reduction in serious crime.
Jesse Bender, Freeland