Paige Cognetti
DMayor of Scranton (since 2020)
Paige Cognetti is the Mayor of Scranton, elected in 2020 as the first woman to hold the office, running as a political outsider after the previous mayor pleaded guilty to public-corruption charges. She launched her congressional campaign in September 2025 with an ad criticizing incumbent Rob Bresnahan's stock trading, and is running while completing her current term as mayor.[2]
Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.
Positions on the issues
- SupportsExpand public health coverage
Campaign launch ad accused incumbent Bresnahan of cutting Medicaid coverage for Pennsylvania families by voting for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, implying opposition to those cuts.[2]
“ripping Medicaid away from Pennsylvania families by voting for President Donald Trump's budget bill”
In their words — priorities
- Launched her campaign attacking incumbent Rob Bresnahan's record of stock trading in Congress after he campaigned on banning it, saying he made 600 trades in a single year.[2]
- Her campaign launch ad accused Bresnahan of "ripping Medicaid away from Pennsylvania families" by voting for the budget reconciliation bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and criticized the timing of some of his stock trades relative to policy events.[2]
Background
- A native of Oregon, Cognetti worked on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and later as a member of the Treasury Department during the Obama administration, and worked briefly at Goldman Sachs in New York before moving to Scranton in 2016.[2]
- Served on the Scranton school board and as a special assistant to the Pennsylvania attorney general before being elected mayor.[2]
- Elected Mayor of Scranton in 2020, running as an independent with the slogan "Paige Against the Machine" after the prior mayor, Bill Courtright, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery, and extortion and was sentenced to seven years in prison.[2][4]
Campaign money
Raised $4.6M · spent $1.2M · $3.4M cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗