Fighting corruption and stopping congressional stock trading record are two of Paige Cognetti’s top platforms in this year’s election.
If Democrats retake the US House after this year’s midterm elections, passing a ban on congressional stock trading will be at the top of Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti’s priority list.
“ I want to make sure that we do ban stock trading in Congress. It is an easy one,” Cognetti said in an interview following an anti-corruption town hall meeting at Luzerne County Community College on Saturday.
Cognetti, who is running against US House Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Luzerne) in November’s election, joined US Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) for the town hall hosted by End Citizen United.
She added, ”it shouldn’t be this hard. It’s remarkable that you can actually make trades on your votes, and that is a legal thing to do. Almost anyone you ask in America does not want that to be the case.”
Dubbed “Paige Against the Machine” for her willingness to buck Scranton’s Democratic Party, Cognetti has made Bresnahan’s congressional stock trading record and combating corruption two hallmarks of her campaign. She also highlighted her own career as Scranton mayor.
“ The former mayor went to federal prison for extortion, which triggered a special election in the fall of 2019,” Cognetti said in an interview.
“We had the local Democrats and local Republicans who each anointed a candidate and thought that it would just go on that way. I registered as an Independent, entered that race and ended up winning a seven-way race to become mayor.”
Cognetti, who was recruited by Gov. Josh Shapiro to run for Congress, jumped into the race last fall, and moved the seat from a “lean Republican” to “toss-up” status among some of the country’s non-partisan political forecasters.
End Citizens United, an organization dedicated to overturning the Citizens United ruling and reforming the campaign finance system, recently named Bresnahan as one of the country’s most corrupt politicians and pointed to his stock trading record as a large reason why.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, Bresnahan, who inherited a family-owned construction company, campaigned on banning congressional stock trading, but has made over 640 trades since taking office last year.
“ Pennsylvania’s eighth district deserves someone that’s fighting for the people, and right now the congressman that represents this district is fighting for himself to line his own pockets,” Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, told reporters.
“That’s why we added him to our most corrupt list just a few weeks ago, and why we’re so proud to endorse and stand with Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is going to come to Washington and reform a broken system and give power back to the people.”
Last year, NBC News reported that Bresnahan sold $150,000 in Medicaid related stocks before voting to cut Medicaid by $1 trillion in President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Around that same time, the New York Times reported that the congressman sold up to $250,000 in hospital development bonds from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Over 21,000 of Bresnahan’s constituents are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage once these cuts go into effect after this year’s election, and, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
In order to pay for these budget cuts, Bresnahan voted for Trump’s tax cuts, which according to Americans for Tax Fairness, saved himself more than $6 million dollars on his personal taxes this year.
Towards the end of the town hall, Cognetti explained how Bresnahan’s corruption comes at a public cost.
“ When the corporations are in control, the corporations are determining the schedules and the priorities of members of Congress and the agencies themselves, that is how we get to a point where we have tax breaks for the millionaires and billionaires and Medicaid cuts for the kids with special needs that desperately need that care,” Cognetti said.
“ It’s very, very clear that the corruption and the cost that we are dealing with are intricately linked, and that’s why we have to fight. It’s always about corruption and costs, the cost of corruption.
