{"id":254118,"date":"2026-07-28T22:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/254118\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T22:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T22:51:12","slug":"midterm-elections-voter-registration-advantages-in-8th-9th-districts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/254118\/","title":{"rendered":"Midterm elections: Voter registration advantages in 8th, 9th districts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats hold a modest voter registration advantage in the 8th Congressional District while Republicans maintain a large registration advantage in the neighboring 9th with less than 100 days until November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

The 8th District race between incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Dallas Twp. and Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti is still expected to be among the most competitive House races in the nation. The 9th District race between incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser of Jackson Twp. and Democratic challenger Rachel Wallace of East Brunswick Twp., Schuylkill County, is less competitive.<\/p>\n

The most recently available state voter registration data shows registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans by 13,716 \u2014 221,709 to 207,993 \u2014 in the 8th District that spans all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike and parts of Luzerne and Monroe counties. The Democratic advantage has grown slightly since early May, before the primary, when it stood at about 12,372.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt left, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan walks out of the Dallas Township Municipal Office Road Department building after voting on Election Day in Dallas Twp. SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. At right, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti stops to talk inside Isaac Tripp Elementary School in Scranton on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. CHAD SEBRING\/STAFF PHOTO<\/p>\n

While there are discrepancies between state-published registration breakdowns by congressional district and by county, the district-level breakdown shows Democrats outnumbering Republicans in Lackawanna County 76,603 to 52,290. They also outnumber Republicans in the Luzerne County portion of the 8th District, 77,054 to 72,656, and in the Monroe County portion, 45,775 to 38,303, per the data.<\/p>\n

Republicans maintain registration advantages over Democrats in Pike County, 23,021 to 13,579, and in Wayne County, 21,723 to 8,698, the district-level data shows.<\/p>\n

In addition to Democrats and Republicans, the 8th District is home to about 88,889 registered potential voters not affiliated with either major party. These voters could play a key role in electing Cognetti or reelecting Bresnahan on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

The 8th District race could also feature a third candidate. Leila Hazou of Pike County recently filed a statement of candidacy<\/a> with the Federal Election Commission noting her intent to seek the seat as a Green Party candidate.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan won his seat in Congress two years ago by narrowly defeating longtime incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright by 6,252 votes. His reelection would improve the GOP\u2019s chances of maintaining its narrow House majority in the next Congress. A Cognetti victory would bolster the Democratic Party\u2019s chances of regaining control of the lower chamber for the final two years of the second Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Race forecasters largely consider the Bresnahan\/Cognetti race a toss-up with the election just over three months away, a far cry from the 9th District race between Meuser and Wallace. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report\u2019s House Race Ratings continue to list that race as \u201csolid Republican,\u201d as does the nonpartisan analysis organization Inside Elections.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.Rep. Dan Meuser, R-
\n9th District, speaks Tuesday, June 23, 2026, before President Donald J. Trump takes the stage at Mack Truck in Lower Macungie Township. (April Gamiz\/The Morning Call)<\/p>\n

To upset Meuser, a GOP incumbent first elected to the House in 2018, Wallace will have to overcome a Republican registration advantage in the sprawling 9th District that spans all or parts of 12 counties, including all of Susquehanna, Wyoming and Schuylkill and part of Luzerne.<\/p>\n

Republicans more than double their Democratic counterparts in that district \u2014 290,394 to 132,645 \u2014 and hold the registration advantage in all 12 counties it spans or includes portions of, per the district-level data.<\/p>\n

Republicans outnumber Democrats in Wyoming County 11,331 to 4,670, in Susquehanna County 17,464 to 6,235 and in the Luzerne County portion of the 9th District 18,299 to 7,822. There are 53,129 Republicans registered in Schuylkill County compared to 25,324 Democrats, the district-level breakdown shows.<\/p>\n

\"RachelRachel Wallace addresses visitors at her newly opened Market Street campaign office. (AISHWARYA BEHL\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

A third candidate, Jenn Brothers of Susquehanna County, announced in March plans to seek the 9th District seat as an independent candidate in November\u2019s midterms. There are about 75,415 individuals registered to vote in the 9th District who aren\u2019t affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican parties.<\/p>\n

Meuser sailed to reelection there in 2024, defeating Democrat Amanda Waldman by 160,689 votes. It was a rematch of their 2022 midterm matchup that Meuser won by 116,563 votes.<\/p>\n

The last day to register to vote in November\u2019s election is Oct. 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrats hold a modest voter registration advantage in the 8th Congressional District while Republicans maintain a large registration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,201,182,803,139,28,50,231,178,180,179,181,2943],"class_list":["post-254118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-schuylkill-county","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt","tag-wyoming-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254118","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=254118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}