| A new profile from CNN is spotlighting how Paige Cognetti has “been not afraid to buck her own party” to root out corruption, and “is once again framing herself as an alternative to the politics of self-interest” in her campaign against corrupt Congressman Rob Bresnahan.
Read key excerpts from the profile for yourself:
- In 2019, Paige Cognetti launched her campaign for mayor of Scranton, where the incumbent had resigned from office before pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.
- Wary of the county Democratic Party’s closed nominating process, she ran as an independent. That fall, she found herself in a courtroom with her rivals as county Democratic leaders sought to have the special election reclassified, potentially booting her and three other candidates off the ballot.
- “To sit there in a courtroom and have the local Democrats trying to essentially rig the election, it made me realize how right I was, that we needed to step up,” Cognetti told CNN.
- The challenge to her bid failed, and Cognetti went on to become the first woman elected mayor of Scranton.
- Now, in her bid to flip Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, Cognetti is once again framing herself as an alternative to the politics of self-interest. She’s also called on Democrats to have a forward-looking message if they win back the US House this November […]
- She’s challenging Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a freshman lawmaker who campaigned on banning congressional stock trading before becoming one of the most active stock traders in Congress during his first months in office […]
- “Really, Rob Bresnahan recruited me into this race for Congress,” Cognetti said. “It was not my plan, just like it wasn’t my plan to run in 2019. But I will not sit by and let the people of northeastern Pennsylvania have somebody representing them that is truly just there for themselves.”
- In the 8th District, Democrats are hoping to make a connection between corruption in Washington, which helped fuel their successful efforts to flip the House in 2006 and 2018, and Americans’ affordability concerns. They view Cognetti, who was easily elected to full terms as mayor in 2021 and 2025 as a Democrat, as their best bet in a race viewed as among the state’s most competitive.
- “She’s often been not afraid to buck her own party and to stand up for what she thinks is right, and that makes her really appealing to everyday voters who have felt often disenfranchised with either party,” said Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who has endorsed Cognetti.
- Cognetti has pledged to reject corporate PAC money and called for a ban on congressional stock trading.
- “Her argument is really simple: It’s when politicians enrich themselves and their donors, working people pay the price,” said Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, a liberal advocacy group seeking to limit the influence of money in politics. The group has endorsed Cognetti.
- “When you have corruption, Democrats need to make sure that they are calling it out as they see it,” Cognetti said. “And that includes when somebody in the Democratic Party does something wrong.”
- Cognetti’s unofficial campaign slogan was “Paige Against the Machine,” a nod to the ‘90s rock band Rage Against the Machine and her fight against local Democratic leaders.
- “She was tapping into a deeper feeling within the voters in Scranton,” J.J. Abbott, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist, told CNN. “They were just really tired of the good old boys’ network, and ‘the way things have always been done’ being the driving force for how decisions were made.”
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