Northeastern Pennsylvania — Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District
Paige
Cognetti
for Congress
A proven reformer and Scranton's first woman mayor, Paige Cognetti is running for Congress to bring the same accountability she brought to City Hall to a Washington long overdue for it.
Scranton's First Woman Mayor
Turned Junk Bond Rating to Investment Grade
$155M+ in Grants Secured for NEPA
Who She Is
A Reform-Minded Leader for Northeastern Pennsylvania
Paige Cognetti's time in public service has been defined by a single commitment: making government actually work for the people it serves. As Mayor of Scranton, she inherited a city defined by financial distress and entrenched patronage and steadily turned it around — balancing budgets, attracting businesses, and rebuilding public trust.
Now, she's bringing that same mission to Congress — fighting for NEPA families against a Washington culture that too often serves insiders over constituents.
71%
Vote share in her 2021 reelection as Mayor of Scranton
1K+
New homes built during her tenure
30yrs
Of financial distress ended when Scranton's status was lifted in 2022
Nobody works harder than the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania — and they deserve a government that works just as hard for them.
— Paige Cognetti
What She Stands For
A Clear Agenda for NEPA
From banning congressional stock trading to breaking up monopolies that crowd out small businesses, Paige's priorities are rooted in NEPA's everyday realities. She believes in honest government, strong local economies, and a healthcare system that actually covers people when they need it.
About Paige
A Career Built on Accountability
Paige Cognetti's journey into public service was never about political ambition — it was about fixing a system that was failing the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. From uncovering corruption as an auditor's investigator to becoming Scranton's first female mayor, every chapter of her career has been guided by the same principle: government should work as hard as the people it serves.
Her Story
Early Career
Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office
Paige began her public service career working with Pennsylvania's Auditor General, where she investigated waste and corruption across both political parties and worked to improve oversight of nursing home facilities — early proof of her willingness to hold institutions accountable regardless of partisan affiliation.
Mid-2010s
Scranton School Board
Paige joined the Scranton School Board, where she applied the same investigative lens to local education — pressing to expose wasteful spending and ensure that school resources were going to students, not cronies with political connections.
2019
"Paige Against the Machine" — First Mayoral Victory
After Scranton's sitting mayor resigned following a federal guilty plea, Paige ran for the office as an Independent, challenging the entrenched local Democratic establishment. She won — becoming the first woman ever elected Mayor of Scranton, eight months pregnant at the time — on a clear promise to clean up City Hall.
2021
Reelected with a Landslide Mandate
Running for a full term as a Democrat, Paige won reelection with over 71% of the vote — a rare show of broad public confidence that validated her administration's approach to reform and fiscal recovery.
2022
End of 30 Years of Distressed Status
In a milestone achievement for the city, Paige led Scranton out of a 30-year period of financial distress — a designation that had weighed on the city's finances and reputation for decades. Scranton's credit rating rose from junk status to investment grade under her watch.
2025
Announcing Her Run for Congress
Paige announced her candidacy for Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, bringing her track record of reform and fiscal accountability to a federal race, with a focus on representing working families in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
What She's Accomplished
A Record of Real Results in Scranton
Fiscal Turnaround
Paige eliminated cash payments, refused a city car, and cut unnecessary spending — turning recurring deficits into budget surpluses and restoring Scranton's standing with creditors.
$155M+ in Grants
She secured over $155 million in federal and state grants for Scranton, directing resources toward infrastructure, public safety, and economic development.
Housing & Small Business Growth
By cutting permit fees and slashing red tape, her administration enabled nearly 1,000 new homes, more than 250 new shops and restaurants, and over 10,000 building permits in just three years.
Public Safety Investment
Paige invested more than $4 million in police technology and training, expanded the police force, and added new fire and police vehicles to protect Scranton residents.
Infrastructure Improvements
She focused on blight removal, held absentee landlords accountable, and oversaw the replacement of thousands of street signs and other city infrastructure improvements.
Family Roots in NEPA
Paige lives in Scranton with her husband Ryan and their two daughters — grounded in the same community she's fought for throughout her career in public office.
Why She's Running
Washington Needs the Same Accountability She Brought to Scranton
Paige Cognetti spent her career exposing waste, confronting corruption, and making government answer to ordinary people. Now she's running for Congress because the same problems she fought at the local level — self-dealing politicians, special interest influence, and rising costs for working families — run rampant in Washington.
600+
Stock trades made by Congressman Bresnahan after campaigning to ban the practice
25,000+
NEPA residents who lost healthcare access after Bresnahan's vote
30 yrs
Of financial distress Paige ended in Scranton — proof reform works
The Problem
A Washington That Works for Insiders, Not NEPA
Paige is running because the pattern she's seen at the local level — politicians enriching themselves while constituents pay the price — has repeated itself at the federal level. The current congressman ran on promises to clean up Washington and protect his constituents' healthcare. He has broken both commitments.
While NEPA families face an uncertain economic future, rising costs, and cuts to their healthcare, their representative has been trading stocks at a prolific rate — over 600 transactions after publicly campaigning against the practice. He also voted to strip healthcare coverage from more than 25,000 people in the district after calling healthcare access a personal "red line."
The Solution
A Proven Track Record of Reform and Transparency
Paige's entire public service career — from the Auditor General's office to the Scranton School Board to City Hall — has been about rooting out corruption, reducing waste, and making government serve the public rather than its own interests.
She knows how to take on entrenched systems because she already has. She won as an Independent against the local machine. She turned a junk-rated city budget into a surplus. She refused the perks that come with office and delivered for residents instead. That's the record she'd bring to Congress.
Status Quo
The Culture of Self-Interest in Washington
Career politicians who trade on their office, trade stocks using insider knowledge, make promises to constituents and break them, and spend their terms in Congress enriching themselves and their donors rather than solving real problems for working families.
Paige's Approach
Accountable, Reform-Minded Leadership
Paige has refused the perks of office, taken on political machines from both parties, and delivered measurable results for the people she serves. She'd bring that same discipline to Congress: no corporate PAC money, support for a stock trading ban, and a focus on NEPA families — not special interests.
Her Platform
What Paige Would Fight for in Congress
Paige Cognetti's priorities come directly from her experience in local government and from listening to the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her platform is grounded in fiscal accountability, economic fairness, and making Washington finally work for working people.
Government Accountability & Reform
Government should work as hard as the people it serves
Ban congressional stock trading. No elected official should be able to profit from their own legislative decisions. Paige supports a full ban on stock trading by members of Congress, a practice she sees as a fundamental conflict of interest.
Reject corporate PAC money. Paige has committed to accepting no corporate PAC contributions as a candidate or, if elected, as a member of Congress — keeping her obligations to constituents, not donors.
Audit the federal government with precision. With nearly a decade of experience cutting waste and fraud at the local level, Paige believes the federal government needs a rigorous, targeted audit — one that uses a scalpel rather than a chainsaw to protect essential services while eliminating genuine waste.
Fighting for NEPA Families
Reducing costs and creating opportunity for working people
Break up monopolies that crowd out competition. Large corporate consolidation is pushing small businesses out of NEPA communities, giving consumers fewer options and concentrating economic power in fewer and fewer hands. Paige would push to strengthen antitrust enforcement and restore genuine market competition.
Strengthen unions and workers' rights. Paige supports making it easier for workers to organize and join unions, believing that strong labor representation is essential to building a fair economy for working families.
Direct more federal funding to local governments. Paige believes in local control and would champion policies that allocate more federal resources directly to municipalities and counties, where officials are most accountable to residents.
Cap predatory fees. Hidden fees — like excessive credit card processing charges — eat into the budgets of families and small businesses alike. Paige would push for caps on these charges to put more money back in people's pockets.
End insurance denials of medically necessary care. Insurance middlemen should not be overruling doctors. Paige supports reforms that prevent healthcare and prescription drug coverage from being denied when a physician has deemed it medically necessary.
Reform the insurance system. Whether it's health coverage, flood insurance, or homeowner's policies, people should be able to trust that the insurance they pay for will actually protect them when something goes wrong.
Economic Growth & Jobs in NEPA
Building it here, bringing industry back, and cutting red tape that doesn't serve anyone
Reshore manufacturing to Northeastern Pennsylvania. Paige would prioritize bringing manufacturing jobs back to the region, including expanding defense manufacturing in NEPA — an area where the district already has significant existing capacity and workforce expertise.
Cut bureaucratic red tape for businesses and infrastructure. Drawing on her experience streamlining Scranton's permitting process, Paige supports sensible deregulation that lets businesses launch and grow faster, and that accelerates critical infrastructure projects — from roads and bridges to passenger rail.
Replace broad tariffs with targeted trade policy. Sweeping tariffs that hit consumers and small businesses hardest are not the answer. Paige supports smart, targeted trade policies designed to protect domestic manufacturing without inflating costs for NEPA families.
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