JENKINS TWP. — Incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr. and Democratic challenger Paige Cognetti have agreed to debate on Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. at the WVIA Studios in Pittston.
Both candidates in the 8th congressional district issued news releases regarding the debate.
Bresnahan, R-Dallas Township, is seeking his second two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cognetti is currently serving her third term as the mayor of Scranton.
Bresnahan said he looks forward to holding Cognetti accountable for her “radical ideology, failure in Scranton, and association with the Democratic machine.”
Cognetti said she looks forward to contrasting her record against Bresnahan’s “corruption” on the debate stage and “holding him accountable for using his seat to benefit himself at the expense of NEPA.”
The 55-minute debate will be broadcast live on WVIA’s television and radio stations, and will also be livestreamed on WVIA.org its social media channels. In addition, the debate will be made available to local media outlets for broadcast.
“Voters in Northeastern Pennsylvania deserve to hear directly from the candidates about the issues that matter most to them, and I look forward to highlighting the work we’ve done for them in Washington, from passing the largest tax break in history for working-class families to introducing a bipartisan bill to lower food costs,” Bresnahan said. “NEPA is my home and my north star, unlike Mayor Paige Cognetti, whose liberal Portland values have guided every decision in City Hall, every radical statement against common-sense priorities, and every career move for two decades as she served the Democrat Machine working with Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris.”
Bresnahan campaign spokesperson Samantha Bullock said Cognetti’s entire candidacy is “based on lying to Northeastern Pennsylvanians about her record and her liberal priorities.”
Bullock said, “Cognetti is a member of the Democrat elite whose policies have no place in NEPA, whether it’s disarming citizens and law enforcement, mass amnesty, bragging about her city’s failure to cooperate with ICE, tax hikes for DEI positions in city government, or letting men play in women’s sports and use women’s spaces. There’s a reason Cognetti avoids discussing the issues, and she has a lot to answer for at this debate.”
Cognetti issued the following statement on her plans to debate Bresnahan:
“This election is a choice between a reformer who will shake up a broken Washington and fight for families, or a congressman who, in his short time in office, has shown he is only interested in serving himself.
“Rob Bresnahan has spent his time in office breaking promises and playing the stock market, while voting to hurt our community with devastating health care cuts and higher prices.
“Bresnahan has traded stocks tied to his votes in Washington, including voting five times for a new forever war, and holds millions of dollars worth of stock in corporations that are trying to push data centers on our community.
“I look forward to holding him accountable on the debate stage and beating him in November so we can clean up Washington and put NEPA first.”
Cognetti cited recent reporting from CBS News that raised fresh questions about Bresnahan’s “corruption in Congress.” Cognetti said the report details how Bresnahan advocated for data centers in NEPA as he “continues to hold investments in a range of companies positioned to benefit from the industry’s continued growth.”