This briefing reflects reporting and polling available as of October 8, 2026. Candidates, endorsements and polling can change before Election Day on November 3, 2026.
Why This Race Matters
Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan narrowly flipped Pennsylvania’s 8th District in 2024, and Democrat Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, is trying to win it back. Both national parties have flagged the seat: the DCCC added Cognetti to its Red to Blue program, and the NRCC named Bresnahan to its Patriot program. The contest turns on two questions: whether voters in a district Donald Trump carried will punish a congressman over his stock trades, and whether Cognetti’s reform message holds up under scrutiny of her own record.
The Race
As of August 4, all four major forecasters rated the race a toss-up, and the 2024 result shows why: Bresnahan beat Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright 50.7% to 49.1% in a district Trump carried 53.8% to 45.4%, according to Ballotpedia. Both nominees were unopposed in their primaries. Cook’s September 25 ratings still list the race as a toss-up.
This article could not locate a public poll from a nonpartisan or Republican-aligned source. A House Majority PAC poll by Lake Research Partners, fielded June 18 to 23, found Cognetti at 47% and Bresnahan at 45%. Cognetti’s campaign released an Impact Research survey of 500 likely voters, fielded June 8 to 11, with 46% for Cognetti and 45% for Bresnahan. Both releases come from parties with a stake in the result, and neither stated a margin of error. The House Majority PAC poll also found Bresnahan viewed favorably by 39% and unfavorably by 48%, and Trump at 40% favorable and 58% unfavorable in the district.
On money, Cognetti reported $3.4 million in cash on hand as of June 30, against $2.6 million for Bresnahan, according to Spotlight PA.
The Candidates
Rob Bresnahan Jr. (R, incumbent). Before Congress he served as chief financial officer and then chief executive of Kuharchik Construction, a commercial electrical contractor, and he owns the real estate development firm RPB Ventures. He sits on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Small Business and Agriculture committees. The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, the federal employees union AFGE and the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters have endorsed him.
Paige Cognetti (D). She became Scranton’s mayor in a 2019 special election, after serving on the Scranton School District board and as a special assistant to the state auditor general. She presents herself as a reformer and notes that she first ran as an independent against the local Democratic Party. The Pennsylvania State Education Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO have endorsed her.
Ballotpedia lists only these two candidates. This article could not confirm whether any other candidate will appear on the ballot.
Top Issues
Stock trading and ethics. This is the Democrats’ central argument. Ballotpedia counts 650 trades by Bresnahan between January 2025 and February 2026, while PoliticsPA reported 652 since he took office and none since March 6, so the figures reflect different counting windows. Bresnahan says professional advisors make decisions on his portfolio. His campaign says he has proposed a stock trading ban, signed a petition to force a vote on one and backed a term limits effort. Cognetti’s eight-point anti-corruption plan includes a congressional stock trading ban, a ban on corporate PAC donations, term limits and a ban on prediction market bets on elections and government actions. “People want a government that works,” she said when she unveiled it.
Medicaid and health care. Cognetti says Bresnahan sold Medicaid-related stock shortly before voting for a bill that cut Medicaid, and she argues the cuts would hurt about 25,000 people in the region. Bresnahan’s side has not been quoted in the reporting reviewed responding to the Medicaid framing specifically.
Cognetti’s record as mayor. In 2025 Bresnahan’s campaign called her run a “vanity campaign” while two Scranton hospitals faced financial trouble. Ballotpedia notes that Republicans also cite a report that she helped secure a state grant for a bank whose board includes her husband’s uncle. This article could not locate that original report.
Evidence Check
Bresnahan: his portfolio decisions are made by professional advisors. Check: Wikipedia’s account reports that he says this. Disclosure filings record trades, not who directed them, so this article can neither confirm nor dispute the claim. The filings do show hundreds of trades in about 14 months and none reported since March 6.
Bresnahan: he has already proposed a stock trading ban. Check: This comes from his campaign’s statement to PoliticsPA. This article could not locate the bill number or text, or verify the discharge petition he says he signed.
Bresnahan’s campaign: Cognetti put a political run ahead of Scranton’s struggling hospitals. Check: Commonwealth Health System and Tenor Health Foundation signed a letter of intent in August 2025 for Tenor to buy both hospitals, per a WVIA report cited by PoliticsPA. This article found no reporting that ties the hospitals’ finances to decisions by the mayor’s office.
Cognetti: she takes no corporate PAC money, and no one else in the race can say that. Check: Spotlight PA reports that federal filings show she accepted money from committees funded in part by corporate PACs, including $5,000 from Blue Hen Federal PAC, tied to Sen. Chris Coons, and $4,000 from the campaign committee of House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark. That is indirect money, not direct corporate PAC checks. Bresnahan accepts direct corporate PAC money, and Cognetti’s campaign puts the total above $267,000, a figure this article could not verify.
Cognetti: Bresnahan sold Medicaid-linked stock days before a Medicaid vote. Check: Wikipedia, summarizing NBC News reporting, says he sold about $130,000 in Medicaid-related health company stocks a week before voting for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The 25,000 figure for affected residents is Cognetti’s own, and this article could not verify it.
Supporter Voices
This article could not locate quotes from local voters or volunteers backing either candidate in the reporting reviewed. What the sources offer are institutional voices. Bresnahan’s backers include the state troopers’ association, AFGE and the Teamsters. Cognetti’s include the state teachers’ union, the nurses’ association and the AFL-CIO. Bresnahan’s spokesperson, Samantha Bullock, dismissed Cognetti’s anti-corruption plan as recycled ideas.
How This Race Is Being Framed
Democrats frame the race as a contest over corruption and health care: a congressman who traded stocks in industries tied to his committee work, and who voted for Medicaid cuts. Republicans frame it as a contest over Cognetti’s record as a mayor and her associations, and they say Bresnahan has already moved on the ethics issues she raises. Neither frame has been tested in a public poll from a source without a stake in the outcome, and the two available surveys each show a one- or two-point Cognetti lead.
Related Links
- Ballotpedia: Bresnahan and Cognetti in the toss-up general election
- Spotlight PA: Paige Cognetti indirectly accepts corporate PAC money
- PoliticsPA: Cognetti unveils anti-corruption agenda, targets Bresnahan
- PoliticsPA: Cognetti, Bresnahan trade barbs as PA-08 contest heats up
- WNEP: Cognetti unopposed in primary, setting up November match against Bresnahan
- Cook Political Report: 2026 House race ratings
Discussion Questions
- Do you think members of Congress should be allowed to trade individual stocks? Why or why not?
- Would a ban on congressional stock trading change how much you trust Congress?
- Bresnahan says his advisors make his trades. Does that answer the concern for you?
- Cognetti says she takes no corporate PAC money, but she accepted money from committees that do. Does that difference matter?
- How should voters weigh a challenger’s record as a mayor against an incumbent’s record in Congress?
- Which matters most to you in this race: ethics, health care or the economy?
- Why do corruption and ethics themes appear in so many campaigns, from both parties?
- How much weight should voters give to polls released by campaigns or party committees?
- Why might a district that favored Trump by about 8 points still be competitive for Democrats?
- Imagine you are an undecided voter in Scranton. What information would you want before November 3?
