SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— Thursday night’s fiery mayoral debate in Scranton saw incumbent Mayor Paige Cognetti face three candidates who are hoping to unseat the mayor in November’s general election.

28/22 News reporter Connor Coar spoke with residents of the Electric City about the mayoral race, as election day is less than three weeks away.

Incumbent Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) announced at the beginning of September that she would be running for U.S. Congress.

At the same time, she is continuing to run for the office of Scranton mayor.

“I did not plan to run for Congress. I love being mayor and plan to continue to be mayor next year. The reason I am running for Congress is that it is going to be very hard for us to do our job in the city if the federal government continues to cut out our legs from underneath us,” vocied Cognetti.

No law in the state of Pennsylvania says one candidate can not run for two government positions at the same time, which is what Cognetti is doing.

After the debate Thursday night, 28/22 news asked Cognetti what she would say to voters who are hesitant about voting for her in the upcoming election because she is also running for Congress.

“I made it clear tonight that other folks on stage with me tonight do have a record of interacting with the public, and that record is not good in either case. We need to keep moving the city forward. A vote for either of the candidates would send us all the way back to more than six years ago, when people were using the city government to enrich themselves,” reasoned Cognetti.

One resident, who spoke with 28/22 News, said he is happy with what Cogentti has done for the city but thinks her focus is split between the positions she is running for.

“If you’re going to be mayor here, awesome. Be mayor here, but keep your focus here. If you are going to run for Congress, then run for Congress. Don’t do it while you are in the middle of a term. It just makes more sense to focus on one or the other,” stated Scranton resident Brendan Chalk.

Republican mayoral candidate Trish Beynon was also asked about Cognetti’s loyalty to the city of Scranton.

“Do you think her priorities lie with Scranton? No. They do not lie with Scranton. We’re a stepping stone for the next political position that she wants to attain,” expressed Beynon.

The two independent candidates for the Scranton mayoral seat are Gene Barrett and Rik Little.

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