PA Democrat Paige Cognetti Isn’t Being Transparent With Voters About Work With National Democrats

Paige Cognetti is currently the Mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania. Prior to that, she served on the Scranton School Board and during that time she voted for a city budget that cut 89 teachers and raised taxes on hardworking families while still resulting in a $4 million deficit. Cognetti herself admitted in 2024 that she only came to the city for political reasons. Elected Mayor in 2019, some Scranton residents were unhappy with Cognetti’s work, calling her a “carpetbagger” who “doesn’t reflect the region.”  Cognetti clearly doesn’t want to remain Mayor of Scranton forever and sees her time as Mayor as a springboard to higher office. 

That’s why she launched a challenge against incumbent Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan for his seat in the state’s 8th Congressional District. As early as March, Townhall reported that Cognetti was already living the D.C. insider lifestyle and eager to put Scranton in her rearview mirror. Since then, we’ve learned more troubling things about Cognetti, including that she wanted to send police after Easter churchgoers and those celebrating Independence Day during the COVID pandemic, how her policies hurt Scranton families, and that her staffers are blocking questions from concerned citizens. Townhall also reported on an unearthed video from Cognetti in which she claimed the United States was founded on “stolen land” during a 2020 lecture for the University of Scranton.

Cognetti likes to paint herself as a political outsider. When she announced her Congressional campaign last fall, Cognetti said, “I’m running for Congress because people here deserve a lot better than a rich kid disrespecting our hard work and proud legacy. We can stand tall against a Washington that takes advantage of working people and make it work for us.” 

That’s odd, because Townhall can now exclusively report that Cognetti wasn’t just hiding her radical views on America’s founding. She also hid the fact that she was paid by the progressive D.C. consulting firm 270 Strategies during her time on the Scranton School Board. 

Cognetti also likes to brag that she is willing to buck her own party, even dubbing her campaign “Paige Against the Machine” and vowing to take on corruption and fight for government transparency.

Yet, despite the fact that her LinkedIn profile shows more than two decades of work as a Democrat political operative, her time with 270 Strategies is conspicuously missing from LinkedIn as well as her bio on her website. Cognetti also avoids discussing the work she did with national Democrats prior to moving to Scranton and becoming mayor. That includes the Department of the Treasury under Obama and the Regional GOTV Director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in 2016.

Where is that transparency Cognetti promises, including in her first campaign ad of the cycle?

📺 We’re launching the first ad of our campaign today. It’s called ‘Machine.’

I first ran for Mayor as an independent to clean up a corrupt city hall and fight for a government that actually serves the people it represents. They called our campaign “Paige Against the Machine.”… pic.twitter.com/CiLcCWmQwQ

— Paige Gebhardt Cognetti (@PaigeGCognetti) July 14, 2026

Perhaps that’s because she doesn’t want Pennsylvania voters to see who else was working with 270 Strategies. At the same time Cognetti was being paid by the consulting firm, their client list included the ACLU, Swing Left, End Citizens United, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and many other far-left progressive causes. It was founded by former Democrat staffers, including both Obama and Clinton alums, and describes itself as an organization that “often [pushes] beyond the comfort zone of the progressive movement.”

Swing Left paid 270 Strategies over half a million dollars in 2018 and 2019 and helped Democrats take back the House in 2018, as well as partnering with George Soros’ investment firm and receiving $50,000 from Soros that same year. The ACLU repeatedly challenged President Trump’s immigration policies in court, including his executive order banning immigration from certain countries. They also called for defunding the police and supported BLM and Antifa rioters during the summer of 2020. End Citizens United seeks to remove corporate money from politics.

270 Strategies was also pushing radical leftist policies while Cognetti was being paid by them including opposing mandatory minimums, renewable energy projects, promoting abortion, and opposing gender being defined by “genitalia at birth” in support of the trans community.

Some of those groups, including Swing Left, End Citizens United, and the DCCC, are supporting Cognetti’s Congressional campaign. Cognetti is endorsed by the radical pro-abortion group Emily’s List, the gun control group Giffords, and WelcomePAC, which also omits any mention of Cognetti’s past work with national Democrats.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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