{"id":167838,"date":"2026-04-16T19:35:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/167838\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T19:35:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T19:35:07","slug":"cognetti-outraises-bresnahan-in-years-first-quarter-bresnahan-leads-in-cash-on-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/167838\/","title":{"rendered":"Cognetti outraises Bresnahan in year’s first quarter, Bresnahan leads in cash on hand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti outraised incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the first quarter of 2026, but Bresnahan continues to lead Cognetti in cash on hand in their 8th Congressional District race the nonpartisan Cook Political Report now considers a toss-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan has also outspent Cognetti this election cycle and during the first quarter of the year, January through March, campaign finance reports filed this week show. Neither candidate faces a challenger from their own party in the May primary.<\/p>\n

The reports filed by Bresnahan\u2019s and Cognetti\u2019s respective committees \u2014 Rob for PA and Paige for PA \u2014 include total receipts and total disbursements, essentially money raised and money spent.<\/p>\n

Cognetti, Scranton\u2019s mayor since 2020 who launched her congressional campaign in early September, raised about $1.46 million<\/a> in the first quarter of 2026, bringing her total this election cycle to almost $2.61 million. She reported about $1.92 million in cash on hand as of the end of the most recent reporting period.<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor of Scranton and Pa. Congressional candidate Paige Cognetti speaks to press during a conference at PSEA in Plains Twp. on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Bresnahan, the Luzerne County businessman and first-term GOP incumbent who narrowly defeated longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright in 2024, raised almost $1.21 million in the first three months of the year<\/a>. He\u2019s reported more than $4.3 million total receipts this election cycle and ended March with cash on hand totaling more than $2.21 million, almost $300,000 more than his Democratic challenger.<\/p>\n

In terms of spending, Cognetti\u2019s disbursements totaled $342,427.48 in quarter one and $682,856.24 overall this cycle. Bresnahan spent $429,424.34 in the first quarter and has spent about $2.17 million total this cycle, considerably more than Cognetti.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to have the support of so many hardworking people all across our community who are tired of self-serving politicians like Rob Bresnahan and believe we deserve something better,\u201d Cognetti said in a press release announcing her fundraising haul.<\/p>\n

In a statement Thursday, Bresnahan campaign manager Peter Brath accused Cognetti of being \u201cbought and paid for by Wall Street and radical coastal elites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toss-up<\/p>\n

Depending on the outcome, the Bresnahan\/Cognetti race in the 8th District that includes all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties may very well be key to Democrats regaining or Republicans maintaining majority control of the House of Representatives for the final two years of President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also likely to be among the most competitive House races in the country.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Rob Bresnahan takes a tour of Kriger Pipeline in Dickson City Thursday, March 12, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

The Cook Political Report\u2019s House Race Ratings, which assess the competitiveness of House races, recently shifted the 8th District race<\/a> from leaning Republican to a toss-up. Considered the most competitive, toss-ups are races where either party has a good chance of winning.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan\u2019s is one of just 17 races nationwide and three in Pennsylvania that CPR lists as a toss-up. The other two in the state also feature GOP incumbents, Congressmen Ryan Mackenzie and Scott Perry, who represent Pennsylvania\u2019s 7th and 10th congressional districts, respectively.<\/p>\n

A CPR summary of Bresnahan\u2019s race notes his controversial stock trades \u201chave dogged him all cycle, giving Democrats a potent line of attack in a district that has been trending Republicans\u2019 way but is very much in play this cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Bresnahan campaigned on and supports banning stock trading by members of Congress, an April 2025 report by The New York Times identified him as \u201cone of the most active stock traders in the freshman class.\u201d Cognetti has cited the trading as a reason for her entering the race.<\/p>\n

At a press conference last month, she accused Bresnahan of public corruption<\/a> after resurfaced audio of a 2025 local radio interview, first reported by Politico<\/a>, raised questions about his long-claimed lack of involvement in his stock trades while in Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Bresnahan recruited me to this (race) when, during the spring and summer, it became clear from his financial disclosures that he was trading on his votes,\u201d Cognetti said at the March press conference.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan campaign spokesman Chris Pack fired back in a statement accusing the local media of amplifying Cognetti\u2019s \u201cdesperate lies\u201d while reiterating the first-term GOP incumbent \u201chas consistently said that he does not have any involvement in stock trades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans, meanwhile, have accused Cognetti of \u201cshady dealings\u201d involving Fidelity Bank, which she flatly rejects. Politico reported in February that Republicans were poised to make Cognetti\u2019s support for the bank<\/a> a top issue in the 8th District race.<\/p>\n

The Politico report noted she received $14,600 in campaign contributions from Fidelity board members months before \u201cgetting the city to purchase\u201d the Fidelity building next to City Hall last year. A split city council narrowly approved<\/a> the building buy in December for the eventual use as a municipal annex. Politico also referenced a $5 million state grant announced in 2024 for a project to restore and renovate the historic Scranton Electric Building to serve as Fidelity\u2019s headquarters, noting Cognetti is \u201cnow facing scrutiny for helping secure\u201d the grant funding \u201cat the same time her uncle-in-law sat on the board of the company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cognetti adamantly denies any impropriety.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery decision that I have made is for the well-being and the betterment of the citizens and the city of Scranton,\u201d she said at the March press conference.<\/p>\n

While the CPR rating now lists the Bresnahan\/Cognetti race as a toss-up, the election analysis and forecasting service Sabato\u2019s Crystal Ball<\/a>, a project of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, still rated the 8th District seat as leaning Republican as of late March.<\/p>\n

Voter breakdown<\/p>\n

State voter registration data continues to show Democrats maintaining a modest registration advantage in the 8th District, where they outnumber registered Republicans by almost 12,100.<\/p>\n

There are approximately 220,025 Democrats in the district compared to about 207,948 Republicans. Another 87,648 registered voters in the district aren\u2019t affiliated with either major party.<\/p>\n

Voters are free agents, and both candidates in the race hope to win support from Democrats, Republicans and third-party or otherwise unaffiliated voters.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan, who has Trump\u2019s endorsement for reelection, announced this week the launch of a \u201cDemocrats for Rob\u201d coalition co-chaired by former Nanticoke mayor and current city council President Joseph Dougherty and Jessup Councilman Jeff Castellani. The latter touted Bresnahan as a \u201cbipartisan problem solver\u201d in a press release announcing the coalition.<\/p>\n

When CPR shifted the race to a toss-up earlier this month, Cognetti\u2019s campaign noted several highlights from the organization\u2019s analysis, including a part noting her allies \u201cbelieve her political brand in Scranton \u2014 in 2019 she ran as an independent against the local Democratic machine \u2014 will help her win over the subset of Trump voters that she\u2019ll need to flip this seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cognetti, who secured Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s endorsement for Congress, won a 2019 special election for Scranton mayor as an independent in the wake of former Democratic Mayor Bill Courtright\u2019s corruption scandal.<\/p>\n

How she\u2019ll fare with Republican voters in the 8th District, and how Bresnahan will fare with their Democratic counterparts, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

More granular campaign-finance information on individual and committee contributions, and on individual contributors, is available at fec.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti outraised incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the first quarter of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,803,139,28,50,178,180,179,181,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-167838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-luzerne-county","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-top-stories-stt","18":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}