![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/HZS-L-chamber-0730-05.jpg\")
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas, speaks during the Greater Hazleton Area Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet breakfast on Wednesday July 29, 2026 in Butler Twp.(John Haeger \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\nAs he battles for reelection in one of the nation\u2019s most competitive midterm races, Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan\u2019s willingness to oppose his own party on certain organized-labor issues has earned him endorsements from some unions and labor organizations that typically endorse Democrats.<\/p>\n
The first-term GOP incumbent and his challenger, Democratic Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, have been stacking endorsements for months as the midterm matchup in the 8th Congressional District barrels toward November. Many of those endorsements reflect a more traditional and predictable partisan alignment in a broader landscape where organized labor in general still largely backs the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
Cognetti, for example, has earned endorsements from the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state\u2019s largest teachers union, as well as from the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, among others. She secured endorsements last month from the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, the state\u2019s largest federation of labor unions, and a local AFL-CIO affiliate, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Labor Council.<\/p>\n
Among other support on his side of the equation, Bresnahan, whom President Donald Trump endorsed for reelection, has also banked endorsements from law enforcement unions, including six local Fraternal Order of Police lodges and the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association. But those less-surprising endorsements for Bresnahan complement others that stem at least in part from his first-term tendency to break with Republicans on some priority issues for organized labor, particularly collective bargaining.<\/p>\n
\u2018Courageous stand\u2019<\/p>\n
When Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 stripping collective bargaining rights from workers across dozens of agencies, the nation\u2019s largest federal employee union denounced the \u201cdisgraceful and retaliatory attack on the rights of hundreds of thousands of patriotic American civil servants.\u201d Union leaders with the American Federation of Government Employees vowed to fight the move in court, and they were paying attention to who else opposed it, too.<\/p>\n
More than a year later, AFGE and its District 3 covering Pennsylvania and Delaware enthusiastically endorsed Bresnahan for reelection because he \u201ctook a courageous stand\u201d to defend federal collective bargaining, AFGE District 3 National Vice President Phil Glover said in the union\u2019s May endorsement announcement.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas, speaks during the Greater Hazleton Area Chamber of Commerce Red Carpet breakfast on Wednesday July 29, 2026 in Butler Twp.(John Haeger \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
The endorsement by AFGE \u2014 which backed Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024 and previously endorsed the Democrat Bresnahan defeated two years ago, former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright \u2014 was among those Politico highlighted in a late-June<\/a> report declaring \u201cDemocrats have a union problem in working-class Scranton.\u201d Politico also noted the Pennsylvania Laborers\u2019 District Council\u2019s endorsement of Bresnahan, that organization having backed Cognetti in her 2025 mayoral reelection bid.<\/p>\n With a membership that includes workers at Tobyhanna Army Depot, the United States Penitentiary Canaan and other federal employees in the region, AFGE has praised Bresnahan as \u201cone of the most active freshman Republicans in Congress on federal workforce issues.\u201d He was one of just five House Republicans who joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition last year to force a floor vote on the Protect America\u2019s Workforce Act<\/a>, H.R. 2550, legislation to nullify Trump\u2019s aforementioned executive order stripping bargaining rights from hundreds of thousands of federal union workers.<\/p>\n Bresnahan was one of nine Republican co-sponsors of the bill that cleared the House in December by a vote of 231-195 but stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cI am and always will be a strong supporter of workers\u2019 rights to collectively bargain, and that absolutely includes our federal workforce,\u201d Bresnahan said in a phone interview. \u201cThe right to collectively bargain is a cornerstone of fair labor and a strong middle class. Union rights are workers\u2019 rights, it\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n Glover also pointed to Bresnahan\u2019s co-sponsorship of the bipartisan proposed Federal Correctional Officer Paycheck Protection Act<\/a> and other examples of his standing with federal workers as reasons for the endorsement.<\/p>\n \u201cMy whole goal is to work with whatever member of Congress will work with us,\u201d he said, noting union officials were initially concerned when Bresnahan beat Cartwright in 2024. \u201cWe thought we\u2019re in trouble, because he (Cartwright) carried a lot of water for our union.\u201d<\/p>\n But Glover said the union quickly reached out to Bresnahan, who was receptive to many of their issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s a Republican majority or a Democratic majority, we kind of would like to see an AFGE majority,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s good that a congressman listens to their constituents and will step out there, and to me that was important. Again, I know there\u2019s other issues that people are concerned about, but my job is to make sure that federal workers get pay, benefits, retirement, the things that they need, and he\u2019s been there to help me on those issues.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Glover said Democrats regaining a House majority in the midterms would be helpful for the federal workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d like to see the House flip, I think I can say that for AFGE,\u201d he said. \u201cI do think that you need people on both sides of the aisle though.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We trust Paige\u2019<\/p>\n Many other individuals and organizations, including labor unions, want to see the House flip, too. And they see a potential Cognetti victory as a way to help achieve that and broader goals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe back candidates who will prioritize the issues driving our members: fair pay and benefits, retirement security, equal treatment for women, safe workplaces, strong public schools, and civil rights, to name a few,\u201d Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Angela Ferritto said in a statement included in Cognetti\u2019s endorsement announcement. \u201cWe trust Paige will fight for these priorities in Congress to deliver an economy that works for all Pennsylvanians.\u201d<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO comprises dozens of affiliated labor unions with over 1,400 local chapters in the state, and Cognetti said the endorsement is meaningful \u201cbecause it shows a breadth of support.\u201d In a phone interview, she said it and other endorsements she\u2019s secured \u201cshow that I am the candidate in this race that will support the right to organize (and) the right to bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will fight against misclassification,\u201d Cognetti continued. \u201cI will fight for working people to have access to healthcare, lower drug costs, public education.\u201d<\/p>\n When the SEIU PA State Council representing \u201c80,000 essential workers in healthcare, public service and property services\u201d endorsed Cognetti in May, its president, Matt Yarnell, said in a statement \u201cwe need leaders who aren\u2019t afraid to stand up and fight for workers and the labor movement\u201d at a time when \u201cbillionaires, major corporations, and self-serving politicians\u201d control Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cUnion members and our families need a person who has a proven track record of taking on corruption and fighting for a government that works for the people, not just itself,\u201d Yarnell said. \u201cWe trust that Paige Cognetti will bring that fight for working Pennsylvanians to Congress and continue to hold those in power responsible in D.C. just as she has done in NEPA.\u201d<\/p>\n Cognetti noted that the national AFL-CIO\u2019s legislative scorecard, which reflects how often votes by individual members of Congress align with AFL-CIO recommendations, gives Bresnahan a lifetime rating of just 8%. She also faulted him for not supporting the proposed Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act<\/a>, Democrat-backed legislation aimed at strengthening collective bargaining protections while targeting right-to-work laws.<\/p>\n Of the 216 House co-sponsors of the legislation in the current Congress, only two are Republicans.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to make sure we increase the right for people to bargain,\u201d Cognetti said. \u201cThis current administration and this current Congress do not support that. Rob Bresnahan does not support the PRO Act. He supports policies that would remove protections for bargaining rights.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Unwavering endorsement\u201d<\/p>\n Bresnahan flatly rejects the suggestion that he\u2019s no friend to the labor movement, pointing to his record while noting \u201cmy proof is in the pudding when it comes to my relationship with organized labor.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a record that looks to have won him the support of another major labor organization that typically endorses Democrats, the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters, after its members apparently endorsed Cognetti by voice vote at their convention in Hershey this past April. Video reviewed by the newspaper shows Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters President Bill Hamilton calling the voice vote after Cognetti addressed the convention, and telling Cognetti \u201cyou have our endorsement\u201d after members approved a motion to that effect.<\/p>\n The organization endorsed Bresnahan almost two months later, with Hamilton praising him for playing a \u201ccritical role in the successful bipartisan push to pass the Faster Labor Contracts Act<\/a>\u201d in the House. That bill, which aims to expedite initial union contracts for newly unionized workers, cleared the House June 9, between the apparent Cognetti endorsement and the subsequent endorsement of Bresnahan.<\/p>\n![\"Democratic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-COGNETTI-0710-07.jpg\")
Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania\u2019s 8th congressional district Paige Cognetti holds a press conference at the United Association Local Union 524 in Scranton Thursday, July 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG. \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-BRESNAHAN-0714-05.jpg\")
Stephen Polishan, president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, speaks during a press conference on Dalilah\u2019s Law held at the Paul Bickelman FOP Lodge 46 in Spring Brook Twp. Monday, July 13, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Election_2_26_Congress_Data_Centers_78921-1-1.jpg\")
FILE \u2013 Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti speaks during a President Joe Biden campaign event in Scranton, Pa., April 16, 2024. (AP Photo\/Matt Rourke, File)<\/p>\n