A competitive House race in Northeastern Pennsylvania has turned into a debate over border security and local safety after Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti criticized President Biden’s handling of the southern border while earlier signaling support for his approach. Political opponents point to past endorsements and letters that favored expanded legal protections as evidence of inconsistency, and both sides are pitching their records to voters ahead of a tight November contest.
In a recent podcast, Cognetti labeled the handling of the southern border “a huge misstep” and “really terrible,” language that landed hard with Republican critics. Those comments surprised some observers because her public record includes more conciliatory statements about immigration and past efforts that appeared to align with the administration. The shift in tone has become a focal point for challengers who want to make border security the central issue in the district.
Cognetti has been Scranton’s mayor since 2020 and is now campaigning to unseat freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan in a race watched statewide. The district has real worries about crime, the drug trade, and cross-border enforcement that Republicans say are directly tied to federal policy decisions. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report currently labels the contest “Lean Republican,” underlining how small shifts in messaging can matter a lot.
Going back to September 2021, Cognetti urged that the region needed “better control at our borders” but did not publicly assign blame to the Biden administration at that time. In August 2023 she joined a group of Pennsylvania mayors that wrote to the president praising efforts to bring order to migration flows. That letter contained the lines “You are working to bring more order to the southern border with a combination of strategies,” and said the president had “rightfully promised” to tie border security with expanding pathways to citizenship.
A campaign spokesperson for Cognetti says she consistently pushed the White House to secure the border and emphasized community harms like fentanyl. The spokeswoman stated, “Like a lot of Northeastern Pennsylvanians, she has seen what the scourge of Fentanyl has done to our community and has said that President Biden didn’t do enough to secure the southern border.” The same spokesperson added that Cognetti is “no stranger to calling out politicians from either political party when they get it wrong,” framing the mayor as pragmatic rather than partisan on the issue.
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As Democrats across the country reckon with border politics, some have quietly shifted toward tougher language after messaging in 2024 did not land with swing voters. Cognetti’s recent critique fits into that broader trend of Democratic candidates walking back earlier positions or sharpening their appeals on security. Republicans see those adjustments as admissions that lax policy produced real community costs.
On other occasions Cognetti emphasized immigrants’ contributions, arguing that newcomers “contribute greatly to our cultural and economic growth.” That balancing act between welcoming rhetoric and tougher border enforcement has left room for political attack. The 2023 letter she signed specifically urged expanded legal protections for Venezuelan, Honduran, Salvadoran and Nicaraguan nationals living in the United States, which opponents highlight as evidence of a softer stance.
Early in the Biden era, in July 2021, Cognetti called for sweeping measures to regularize millions living in the country without authorization, warning that failing to act could become a security concern. She told reporters, “If we don’t do this now, we will start to erode in our strength and that becomes a national security issue.” That argument about integration and security is one Republicans argue ignores immediate enforcement needs and community safety impacts.
Republican opponent Bresnahan has been direct in his criticism, arguing those positions put the district at risk. He said, “Mayor Paige Cognetti’s soft-on-crime policies have already led to a spike in violence in Scranton, and her support for legalizing every illegal immigrant in the country will only make things worse, especially in her city where she downplays homicides and gang violence and wants to disarm the police.” Cognetti’s team counters by pointing to investments in local law enforcement and figures they say show a drop in violent crime under her watch.
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The back-and-forth over past letters, public comments, and recent pod-cast rhetoric means voters will be sorting through mixed signals as Election Day approaches. For many in Northeastern Pennsylvania the question is straightforward: which approach better protects neighborhoods from drugs and violence while managing migration in a fair and orderly way. The campaign will test whether voters respond to tone and rhetoric or to longer records on public safety and border enforcement.
