Editor\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 30-second ad is paid for by Paige For PA, Cognetti\u2019s official campaign committee. It was approved by the candidate.<\/p>\n
The scene opens with two men sitting in Adirondack chairs in a front yard outside a home. One is reading a copy of The Times-Tribune, the other a recent edition of The Citizens\u2019 Voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see this?\u201d one man asks. \u201cBresnahan wants data centers all over NEPA.\u201d<\/p>\n
It kicks off a discussion between the two men centered on Bresnahan\u2019s views and actions on data centers.<\/p>\n
The other man complains about already-high energy costs, while the original commenter adds that data centers \u201cuse more juice than 100,000 Sheetz (gas stations).\u201d<\/p>\n
He goes on to say that Bresnahan gave data centers a $20 billion tax break, adding that he also \u201cbought stock in a data center company.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRob Bresnahan is making more money, and we\u2019re stuck with the bill,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Cognetti appears, sitting atop a fallen tree, announcing she approves the ad. She\u2019d say more, she concludes, \u201cbut I think these guys got it covered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key claim<\/p>\n
Rob Bresnahan supports data center construction throughout the region and encourages them with tax breaks.<\/p>\n
Is it factual?<\/p>\n
The dialogue hits on several points scrutinizing Bresnahan\u2019s early support for data center development in Northeast Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Claims that Bresnahan desires data centers be built \u201call over\u201d the region is at the very least a stretch.<\/p>\n
In June, Bresnahan introduced the Local Control Protection Act<\/a> in the House. He said the bill would put data center development in the hands of local communities by putting limits on a corporation\u2019s right to sue over local zoning decisions<\/a> that deny applications to build them. The bill was sent to committee in June and has not been acted upon since<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should never let billion-dollar corporations supersede the voices of those who live in the community,\u201d Bresnahan said in a statement introducing the bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, it also is true that Bresnahan expressed support for area data center development in the past.<\/p>\n In April 2025, Bresnahan said data centers could be \u201ccatalysts for economic growth and technological innovation\u201d<\/a> throughout the region.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to these investments and encourage companies to look to Northeastern Pennsylvania as a home for economic and technological advancements,\u201d he said then.<\/p>\n After a joint venture between PPL Corporation and Blackstone, a leading private equity firm, to invest $25 billion in data center development in Pennsylvania was announced in July 2025<\/a>, Bresnahan pointed to potential benefits in NEPA, saying the region was full of \u201cuntapped power\u201d and was \u201cmore than ready for new growth, investments and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not true that Bresnahan voted in favor of a $20 billion tax break targeted solely to data center developers.<\/p>\n Yet, critics argue the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, for which Bresnahan was a yes vote, included language that created broader capital expensing and depreciation rules allowing companies to write off equipment costs sooner than is deemed necessary based on useful life and is especially lucrative for companies that build AI infrastructure. A study by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy,<\/a> for example, found that five big tech giants \u2014 Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle \u2014 combined to claim more than $26 billion in depreciation tax breaks in 2025.<\/p>\n Bresnahan indeed owns stock in data center companies<\/a>. According to financial disclosures filed in August, Bresnahan owns between $19,005 and $110,000 worth of stock<\/a> in four companies with direct ties to the data center industry. His portfolio also includes investments worth between $804,024 and $2.04 million<\/a> in companies that supply chips, networking equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools and software that aid the development of the AI industry and data centers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: We are publishing a series of fact-checks of advertisements in the Pennsylvania 8th Congressional District race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,182,139,50,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-306718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306718","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=306718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}