National Democratic super PAC steers money into Northeastern Pa. as battle for Congress heats up

Andrea Padilla, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 10, 2026

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A race for a key swing district in Northeastern Pennsylvania has caught the eye of a major Democratic super PAC that plans to spend around $50 million on advertising targeting Republican-held seats, according to the New York Times.

“We’re going to Republican territory and planting a flag,” Bradley Beychok, the president of American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC, said in an interview with the Times. “These Republicans are in a world of hurt.”

American Bridge is targeting 14 House races, the report said, with a television, radio, streaming, digital, and direct mail advertising blitz focused on economic issues like the cost of living and tariffs.

That includes the 8th Congressional District, which includes Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a freshman Republican who narrowly flipped the seat in 2024, will face a challenge in November from Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti.

Cognetti, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination in last month’s primary, has attacked Bresnahan over stock trades he has made since taking office and over cuts to healthcare.

Bresnahan voted for President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut Medicaid to help pay for tax cuts, but he was one of a handful of Republicans to vote to restore Affordable Care Act subsidies that lapsed earlier this year.

“Rob ran for Congress on a promise to ban stock trades,” Cognetti said in an ad launching her campaign. “This year, he’s already made 600 trades — 600.”

Bresnahan made up 79% of the Pennsylvania delegation’s stock activity reported in 2025, according to Quiver Quantitative. Bresnahan has faced scrutiny over his trades, including offloading $130,000 in Medicaid provider stocks ahead of a House vote on Trump’s bill, as reported by NBC News.

The lawmaker has stated he does not trade his own stocks.

“I think you need to know that the trades are being executed on my behalf. I do not have any dialogues with my financial advisers,” Bresnahan said in response to a question during a June 10, 2025, telephone town hall.

This year’s $50 million spend is the most American Bridge has spent on a midterm election, according to the New York Times, which cited Trump’s falling approval ratings as the reason.

Bresnahan’s campaign contended that the spending is proof that Cognetti will be beholden to national Democratic Party leaders.

“Paige Cognetti is and always will be a loyal Democrat establishment shill and the millions of dollars she’s accepting from outside liberal groups make it clear she’s not fighting the machine, she’s a cog in it,” Bresnahan campaign spokesperson Samantha Bullock said in a statement.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has classified the race as a toss-up, which helps explain that national investment.

“Your opponent’s drowning,” Beychok told the Times. “We need to throw them an anvil.”