Democratic congressional candidate Paige Cognetti promised Saturday to ban stock trading by members of Congress if voters elect her to represent them.
At a Nanticoke town hall event packed with more than 100 supporters and featuring Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, Cognetti’s promise sounded similar to one that U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan made as he ran for the office two years ago.
In a March 2024 letter to a newspaper, Bresnahan, a Republican, called for an immediate end to congressional stock trades and promised to introduce a bill banning the practice.
After he won election and took office in January 2025, Bresnahan kept trading stocks and introduced a ban amid criticism of his trading. Since December, as criticism mounted, he has stopped all trades until a ban is passed.
Cognetti, a Democrat, said she’ll keep her promise if she defeats Bresnahan.
“You have to show that you are willing to sacrifice to be in public service. I've been doing that as mayor,” said Cognetti, now in her seventh year as Scranton’s mayor.
Cognetti said Bresnahan introduced a stock trading ban “that nobody supports” and carries “a tax loophole.”
“He thinks that people of NEPA are that ignorant, that we are okay with that,” she said. “That is just not okay.”
End Citizens United, a Washington, D.C.,-based group dedicated to upending the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations to donate to political candidates, hosted the town hall at Luzerne County Community College.
Group leader praises Kelly
Tiffany Muller, the group’s president, said Kelly is the only member of Congress who refuses to accept corporate donations, publishes his daily schedule online and placed his and his wife’s investment portfolios in a blind trust.
“So we don't even know what's in there,” Kelly said.
A blind trust means a person is forbidden from knowing how money is invested. Presidents have routinely placed investments in blind trusts while serving, though President Donald Trump has not.
For an elected official, a blind trust also aims to limit the possibility official actions will be motivated by the effect on investments.
Bresnahan stock trading history
After taking office in January 2025, Bresnahan became one of the most prolific stock traders in Congress, according to Quiver Quantitative, which tracks trading.
In May 2025, a month after a New York Times story pointed out his stock trading, Bresnahan denied he ever told his financial adviser how to invest and introduced a bill aimed at banning trading. But he declined to tell his financial adviser to stop trading stocks for fear of losing his money.
He also tried to place his assets in a blind trust but said he didn't because he wasn’t happy with U.S. House restrictions that forbid him from using the same financial adviser.
In December, Bresnahan signed onto a House petition to force a vote on a stock trading ban bill. The petition has failed to move forward. Bresnahan has stopped trading stocks, except when a corporate merger forces him to sell, according to Quiver Quantitative.
Cognetti did not say if she would be willing to place her investments in a blind trust until Congress adopts a stock trading ban. Efforts to reach her later were unsuccessful.
Cognetti touts anti-corruption record
Cognetti said she’s fought corruption since she was appointed a Scranton school director in 2018.
“We've had judges, mayors, county commissioners, state senators actually go to prison for public corruption. That is not fair to us. There is a cost to that,” Cognetti said.
She ran for mayor after Mayor Bill Courtright resigned and went to federal prison on corruption charges.
“I was very pregnant with our first child and was not going to raise our family in a place where corruption was just okay,” she said. “Our local Democratic party went into a closed room, anointed (another) candidate and essentially said ... ‘Meet your new mayor’ ... We won that race. We won big.”
As mayor, Cognetti said she’s limited spending that benefits public officials.
“(There are) no no-show jobs anymore, right? We run the place well, we make sure that we manage our contracts, we procure our contracts, we make sure that those tax dollars are used and respected and used in a way that helps people, actually serves people,” she said.
Kelly rips corporate donors
Kelly decried the corruption spawned by corporate donations. Once, fewer than 300 billionaires contributed less than 1% of all campaign money. Now, it’s 19%, he said.
“And people don't become that rich without expecting a return on an investment, right?” he said.
He said members of Congress have a lot of inside information that can inform stock trades. He called Bresnahan one of Congress’ “worst offenders.”
“Usually you can be held accountable. Not the case here in this district, not right now, not with this guy,” he said.
Bresnahan fires back
Bresnahan’s campaign issued a statement criticizing Cognetti for ending maternity leave for unionized city employees, ignoring crime while raising money to run for Congress and laying off teachers as a school director.
The statement also accuses Kelly of “parachuting into Nanticoke to stump for Paige Cognetti ... to lecture the hardworking people of Northeastern Pennsylvania about "corruption" and "making the government work for working families."
“Mayor Cognetti and Mark Kelly don't know NEPA, aren’t from here, and don't speak for us,” the statement says. “Northeastern Pennsylvanians won’t be fooled.”
