SCRANTON — Ahead of the Nov. 3 election, voters in Pennsylvania have identified the government and politicians as two of the most important problems facing the state.
Candidates for the 8th Congressional District will be on the ballot. The race is a “toss-up,” according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and could help determine which party controls the U.S. House.
Republican incumbent Rob Bresnahan, a businessman, will face Democratic candidate Paige Cognetti, the first woman to be elected mayor of Scranton.
Located in the northeast corner of the commonwealth, the purple district covers Lackawanna, Pike, and Wayne Counties, along with parts of Luzerne and Monroe Counties.
Members of Congress, elected for two-year terms, control federal taxes and spending, as well as develop and vote on legislation, including anti-corruption laws. They also investigate government agencies, programs, and officials.
While campaign finance reform is a key issue on Cognetti’s platform, Bresnahan has not taken a public stance on the issue, and his campaign did not respond to an inquiry about his positions. The candidates align most on anti-corruption issues, both favoring banning stock trading and imposing term limits for members of Congress.
Below, we break down the two major party candidates’ positions on these issues ahead of the Nov. 3 election. You can learn more about their positions during a WVIA debate scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 29.
Campaign finance reform
Cognetti has published an anti-corruption agenda on her campaign website, saying she will “challenge the system, root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and deliver results for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania.”
According to campaign materials reviewed by Spotlight PA, Cognetti supports a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, a controversial 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down prohibitions on corporate and labor union election spending.
In the ruling, former Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that restrictions on independent spending by corporations and other outside groups limit their speech, and violate the First Amendment, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Lower courts, in applying the ruling, extended it to lift restrictions on almost all fundraising and spending by groups that claim to be separate from candidates, many known as “super PACs.”
In the years since the decision, election spending has reached “unprecedented heights,” according to a 2025 report from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks and analyzes money in U.S. politics. Outside spending in the 2008 election cycle totaled $574 million. In 2024, outside spending came close to $4.5 billion — and most of that money was spent by super PACs.
Super PACS regularly accept money from 501(c)(4) groups, which aren’t required to disclose their donors. “Those 501(c)(4) groups that decline to reveal their donors are known as ‘dark money’ groups,” per OpenSecrets, “and when they provide funding to super PACs, they hide the identity of super PAC donors.”
If elected, Cognetti will propose legislation to ban corporate PAC donations to federal campaigns, saying in her agenda, “The meetings our Representatives take and the priorities they fight for should be dictated by what is best for their districts, not a corporate lobbyist coming with a check.”
She also says she will not accept any PAC money. “As a candidate and member of Congress, I will reject the influence of special interests,” she says on her campaign website.
However, federal campaign finance filings show Cognetti has accepted donations from numerous political committees that themselves are awash in cash from corporate PACs, including money from defense contractor Boeing, banking giant JPMorgan Chase, and insurer UnitedHealthcare.
Bresnahan’s campaign website does not include a position on campaign finance reform, and his campaign did not respond to questions about where he stands. Federal filings show he accepts direct corporate PAC money.
Stock trading ban
Congressional stock trading has become a major talking point ahead of the election. House members, who have access to information the public doesn’t, are allowed to buy and sell stocks, but must disclose trades of more than $1,000 within 30 days.
As of mid-December, members had made 13,324 trades totaling $635.57 million in 2025, according to nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause.
Both Bresnahan and Cognetti are in favor of banning members of Congress from trading stocks.
During his freshman term, Bresnahan has introduced and supported efforts to ban congressional stock trading. In May of 2025, he introduced the Transparency in Representation through Uniform Stock Trading Ban Act, which would ban House members from trading stocks, but “would not apply to covered financial instruments held in a qualified blind trust.”
(Government officials use blind trusts to give a third party control of their stocks. Such trusts are designed to help them avoid conflicts of interest, though the Campaign Legal Center cautions that a poorly designed one “could result in a worst-case scenario where the member in fact continues to control and direct holdings while the public does not know any of the investments.”)
Bresnahan is also one of 144 co-sponsors of the Restore Trust in Congress Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas). The legislation, which would similarly ban congressional stock trading, has not seen a vote.
In December, Bresnahan also signed a discharge petition on the End Congressional Stock Trading Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tennessee), but it did not receive enough support to force a vote.
In July, Bresnahan voted in favor of the Stop Insider Trading Act. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R., Wisconsin), it would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing stocks, in addition to requiring public notice before they sell stocks. Bresnahan is also one of the 93 co-sponsors of the legislation.
“Members of Congress should never be allowed to trade their own stocks and profit off the information they are entrusted with; this is a belief I have held since before taking office, and this belief has not changed,” Bresnahan said in a news release following the vote. “By putting reasonable restrictions on the buying and selling of stocks and increasing penalties for violations means greater levels of transparency and a renewed commitment to serving the American people and them alone.”
While the House approved the legislation by a Republican majority in the 232-198 vote, many Democrats voted against the bill due to provisions that would exempt the president from the trading ban and include a photo ID requirement for voters in federal elections.
The measure failed in the Senate on Sept. 30 after every Democratic and independent senator voted against it.
Bresnahan has drawn criticism for his “prolific” activity on the stock market while supporting a ban.
During 2025, he made almost 650 individual stock trades. He reported dozens of trades around the time of President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, when the S&P 500 tumbled and recovered amid intense tariff-driven volatility.
Then, he sold up to $130,000 in stocks in four companies that oversaw about half of all Medicaid managed care organizations ahead of voting in favor of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The legislation, signed into law on July 4, 2025, included nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade.
In both instances, Bresnahan said a financial advisor made those transactions. Since then, he’s stopped trading.
Cognetti has said she will refrain from stock trading while in office. She favors a ban on members of Congress trading stocks, saying on her campaign website that “No one should be able to use their public office to enrich themselves.” She has also criticized Bresnahan, saying in March that he “is spending his time and energy trading stocks, instead of focusing on the people in northeastern Pennsylvania.”
Ban on lobbying
Cognetti says she will “push to permanently ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists.”
“Corporations pay a premium for former members of Congress precisely because of their access to and relationships with their former colleagues,” she says in her anti-corruption agenda. “After being elected to serve their constituents, these members cash in, further stacking the deck against regular Americans in corporations’ favor. Enough is enough.”
Bresnahan’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry about the representative’s position.
Currently, members of Congress are banned from lobbying for one year after leaving office.
Term limits
Imposing term limits on members of Congress is a point of agreement between the campaigns. Currently, there is no limit on the number of terms a member of Congress can serve.
In 2024, Bresnahan signed the U.S. Term Limits Constitutional Amendment Pledge, agreeing to co-sponsor and vote for an amendment that would limit House members to three terms.
“Public office should not be seen as a lifelong career, but as a service to your community and country,” Bresnahan said in a news release. “Term limits allow for more discussion and new ideas in Congress. As a younger Member, I have seen how representation from the younger generations is lacking, and term limits would allow for these new generations to voice their opinions in an elected capacity.”
Cogentti says she will “fight to pass a constitutional amendment establishing term limits,” including 18 years for House members, arguing that there are “members of Congress who have gotten too comfortable and have stayed too long.”
A joint resolution introduced in January by U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.) would amend the Constitution to create a three-term limit for members of Congress, and Bresnahan is listed as a co-sponsor.