![\"Shown](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-ADWATCH-0925-01.jpg\")
Shown is a campaign mailer from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and authorized by Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic candidate for the 8th Congressional District seat. (SUBMITTED)<\/p>\nEditor\u2019s note: We are publishing a series of fact-checks of advertisements in the Pennsylvania 8th Congressional District race between incumbent Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan of Dallas Twp. and Democratic challenger, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti. The election is key for both major parties\u2019 hopes of holding a House majority the next two years.<\/p>\n
The mailer, which appeared in mailboxes in at least parts of the 8th Congressional District, was paid for by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and authorized by Cognetti.<\/p>\n
Shown is a campaign mailer from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and authorized by Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic candidate for the 8th Congressional District seat. (SUBMITTED)<\/p>\n
On the outside of the folded mailer, two bold headlines can be read. One says, \u201cMore than 600 stock trades worth more than $8 million in his first 18 months in Congress\u2026\u201d while the other continues, \u201c\u2026Rep. Rob Bresnahan is only in it for himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
It lists several claims about Bresnahan\u2019s trading history during those first 18 months. They include selling up to $130,000 in stock from companies managing Medicaid patients days before voting for the largest Medicaid cuts in history; selling $250,000 in Pennsylvania hospital bonds; buying Lockheed Martin stock before the U.S. initiated strikes against Iran; buying stocks in a major data center supplier while pushing to fast-track data center construction in Northeast PA.<\/p>\n
On the inside of the folded mailer, most of those claims are reiterated, along with another claim that he \u201ctraded stocks in companies overseen by the committees on which he served.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key claim<\/p>\n
\u201cRep. Rob Bresnahan\u2019s stock trades while in Congress helped himself. And his votes hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it factual?<\/p>\n
The trading aspects are true, and verifiable through public records. Some of the other allegations do lack necessary context.<\/p>\n
Bresnahan made about 650 stock trades in 2025<\/a>, his first year in office, that yielded $8.51 million in volume, according to CapitolTrades.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to transaction reports he filed with the House, Bresnahan offloaded up to $130,000 in stocks in four companies that oversaw about half of all Medicaid managed care organizations a week before voting yes on President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act.\u201d<\/a> The spending bill cut Medicaid spending by at least $911 billion over the next decade<\/a>.<\/p>\n Among other trades mentioned in the ad, Bresnahan:<\/p>\n Purchased between $1,000 and $15,000 in Lockheed Martin Corp. stock on May 14, 2025.<\/a> Military operations in Iran began in February of 2026. Despite that, congressional stock trading is not currently illegal.<\/p>\n As part of his 2024 campaign for the 8th District seat, Bresnahan vowed to pursue a ban<\/a> on Congressional stock trading. In July<\/a>, he voted for the House\u2019s Stop Insider Trading Act<\/a>. If made law, that act would ban members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from new publicly traded stock purchases while in office<\/a> and also mandate between one and two weeks notice before selling any existing investments.<\/p>\n After ranking as one of the most prolific traders in Congress his first year, Bresnahan\u2019s trading drastically slowed in 2026<\/a>. He made just a handful of trades this year,<\/a> according to Capitol Trades.<\/p>\n Bresnahan has long maintained that a third-party financial adviser handles his portfolio, that he does not have \u201cany dialogue\u201d with financial advisers. \u201cI honestly have no idea what\u2019s inside of the portfolio that I own,\u201d he said.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSold between $100,001 and $250,000 worth of bonds issued by the Allegheny County Hospital Development Authority for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on March 27, 2025<\/a>, soon after a report said 10 rural hospitals in Pennsylvania faced immediate risk of closure<\/a>.
\nHolds between $19,005 and $110,000 worth of stock<\/a> in companies that operate data centers.
\nTraded some stocks related to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on which he serves. That includes Boeing<\/a>, construction and mining equipment giant Caterpillar<\/a>, and CXS<\/a>, a freight railroad company.<\/p>\n