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Rob Bresnahan’s stock trading is top of mind at Scranton town hall

December 16, 2025

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Good evening,

Welcome back to a very chilly edition of the Keystone Labor Report.

It’s 20 degrees outside, the Susquehanna River is just about frozen over in Harrisburg, the Phillies are looking to run it back with their aging lineup, and pitchers and catchers don’t report to spring training for another 59 days, but that is not stopping Vice President JD Vance from batting clean up after President Donald Trump’s less-than-stellar appearance at the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mt. Pocono last week.

Vance is traveling to the Lehigh Valley on Tuesday after the release of the latest jobs report found that nonfarming jobs fell by 105,000 in October. They slightly rebounded in November with 64,000 jobs added to payrolls. Unemployment rated ticked up to 4.6% nationally.

We Pay the Tariffs, a coalition of small businesses advocating against Trump’s tariff policies, released a memo ahead of Vance’s visit that found that Pennsylvania companies paid an additional $4.3 billion in tariffs from the start of the year through September when compared to this time last year.

Sean Kitchen,

Political Correspondent, The Keystone

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

One of the things I love the most about this job is being able to travel around the state, meet people where they’re at, and report on events that may not be on a lot of people’s radars.

This past weekend, I attended a town hall in Scranton to talk to US Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s (R-Luzerne) constituents about his prolific stock trading record since he was sworn into office earlier this year.

Spoiler alert: he’s made over 600 stock trades since January.

Saturday’s town hall was hosted by the Progressive Caucus Action Fund, Action Together NEPA, and a coalition of progressive organizations and included US House Reps. Brendan Boyle (D-Philadelphia), Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery), Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington).

“I think for our area in particular, as economic challenges exist for a majority of our population, the absolute grift of using stock trading to advance himself is – I find – repulsive. I think it’s offensive,” Dave Kerr, a Wilkes-Barre resident, said in an interview.

“[Bresnahan] refuses to answer questions in a town hall setting. To stand up for what he did with his stock trades. Is he choosing to ignore the stock trading bill that congress is trying to pass in order to prevent this kind of money grabbing? He won’t answer those questions. So I don’t know what he stands for.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro made news earlier this month as Axios reported that the governor played an important role in recruiting Democrats to run in Pennsylvania’s four most important congressional races. On Monday, Shapiro endorsed Bob Brooks, President of the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association, in his bid to unseat US House Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Lehigh).
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday has stood largely with the Trump administration since being sworn into office last January, but on Monday, he told capitol reporters that he’ll defend the commonwealth’s regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) against an executive order that prevents states from regulating AI. You can read more about that here.
A recent poll from Politico found that many Americans are skipping doctors’ visits and purchasing their prescriptions due to rising costs. You can read how Americans are dealing with affordability issues here.

(Sean Kitchen / The Keystone)

With the holiday season here now, there are some traditions that should remain in the dustbin of history, and the elitist Pennsylvania Society, which dates back to 1899, is one such thing.

A lot of people rightfully call out the current administration’s “Great Gatsby” style parties or the construction of this Marie Antionette-style ballroom, but few people understand that Pennsylvania lawmakers, from both parties, have been doing this much longer than Trump.

This past weekend, Pennsylvania lawmakers made their yearly pilgrimage to New York City for a weekend of fundraising, debauchery and kissing the feet of industrialists, billionaires and titans of industry, and they ended their weekend inside the swanky Waldorf Astoria ballroom.

There may be some Pennsylvania Society defenders and attendees here, but it is considered problematic for politicians to travel out of state to meet with the most powerful people in Pennsylvania politics and set an agenda for the following year in smoke-filled clubs and high end ballrooms.