Paige Cognetti
Paige Gebhardt Cognetti is an American politician serving as the List of mayors of [Scranton, Pennsylvania|mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania]. She is the first woman to be mayor of the city and won her seat in a special election. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran her first Scranton mayoral campaign as an Independent.
Early life and career
Cognetti was born in Eugene, Oregon. She graduated summa cum laude from the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Romance Languages, and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.Cognetti started her career as an English teacher in Japan. She was a fundraiser for the Clinton and Obama 2008 campaigns and later served as an advisor at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Political career
Cognetti was appointed to the Scranton School Board in 2017, but later resigned in December 2018 to become a special assistant to Pennsylvania's then state auditor, Eugene DePasquale. She has run on reform and pragmatism platforms; on the school board, she criticized Scranton's no-bid school bus contracts and unapproved payments to contractors.Mayor of Scranton
In 2019, Cognetti ran in the special election to finish the term of former Scranton mayor Bill Courtright, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges in July of that year. Cognetti, previously a lifelong Democrat, ran as an independent after she deemed the closed caucus system of nomination used by the local Democratic Party as not in favor of the people. She focused on investments and budgets for local businesses, education, and infrastructure. Cognetti won the special election with 36% of the vote.Cognetti ran for election to a full term in 2021 as a Democrat and won in a landslide.
In 2024, President Joe Biden appointed Cognetti to the United States Trade Representative's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
2026 U.S. House campaign
On September 2, 2025, Cognetti announced a run for Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district in 2026, aiming to unseat Republican incumbent Representative Rob Bresnahan.Cognetti identified as a progressive independent in 2019. Cognetti is involved with the Majority Democrats PAC.