WVIA-TV will host a debate between the candidates for the 8th Congressional District seat next month.
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, the Republican nominee, and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic nominee committed Tuesday to debate.
The 55-minute debate will take place Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in the station’s Sordoni high-definition studio in Jenkins Twp.
Congressman Rob Bresnahan announced his commitment to participating Tuesday morning in a news release.
“Voters in Northeastern Pennsylvania deserve to hear directly from the candidates about the issues that matter most to them and I look forward to highlighting the work we’ve done for them in Washington, from passing the largest tax break in history for working class families to introducing a bi-partisan bill to lower food costs,” Bresnahan said in the release. “NEPA is my home and my North star, unlike Mayor Paige Cognetti, whose liberal Portland values have guided every decision in City Hall, every radical statement against common-sense priorities, and every career move for two decades as she served the Democrat Machine working with Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris.”
By mid-afternoon, Cognetti’s campaign committed to the debate, too.
The campaign issued a news release quoting Cognetti.
“This election is a choice between a reformer who will shake up a broken Washington and fight for families, or a congressman who in his short time in office has shown he is only interested in serving himself,” she said. “Rob Bresnahan has spent his time in office breaking promises and playing the stock market while voting to hurt our community with devastating health care cuts and higher prices. Bresnahan has traded stocks tied to his votes in Washington, including voting five times for a new forever war, and holds millions of dollars worth of stock in corporations that are trying to push data centers on our community. I look forward to holding him accountable on the debate stage and beating him in November so we can clean up Washington and put NEPA first.”
WVIA will invite the public to attend. The station will release details on how to sign up to attend later.
The debate will be broadcast live on WVIA-TV, WVIA Radio and live-streamed on WVIA.org, and the station’s YouTube channel. WVIA will also make the debate available to other local media outlets for broadcast.
