Paige Cognetti, Pennsylvania

Paige Cognetti is the Mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District in 2026. A University of Oregon summa cum laude graduate with an MBA from Harvard Business School, she served as a senior advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department during the Obama administration, worked as an investment advisor, and sat on the Scranton School Board before being elected in 2019 as the first woman mayor of Scranton — initially running as an independent in a campaign dubbed "Paige Against the Machine." As mayor she led Scranton out of 30 years of financial distress status, achieved an investment-grade credit rating, and secured over $155 million in federal and state grants.