WILKES-BARRE — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson made a campaign stop alongside Rep. Rob Bresnahan in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, weighing in on the hotly contested Northeastern Pennsylvania race that could determine who wins control of Congress this fall.
The pair focused on local law enforcement and waded into the controversies mounting over congressional stock trading — but balked, however, at commenting on whether restrictions should be placed on the stock-trading habits of President Donald Trump.
Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., acknowledged the significance of his campaign to defend his seat from Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic nominee.
“Everybody here knows that this is going to be one of the most competitive races in the country,” Bresnahan said. “But, I’ve always believed that if you show up, listen to the people, do the job that sent you to Washington, you’ll have a record that you can stand on.”
The joint news conference was held at the Mary Stegmaier Mansion, with Bresnahan and Johnson flanked by local law-enforcement leaders and two other congressmen, including Rep. Dan Meuser, R-9, Jackson Twp.
Johnson, R-LA, voiced support for Bresnahan during his remarks, calling him the “hardest working man in Congress.” Embarked on a cross-country tour of battleground districts, Johnson sought to cast Bresnahan’s race as part of a national contest between principled conservatives and an increasingly radical Democratic Party, with Jonshon speaking gravely of the recent victories of socialists in Democratic primaries.
“This midterm election is going to be one unlike any other in the past,” Johnson said. “It’s going to decide the future of the republic, because we are locked in a contest between people who love America and its founding principles and Marxists and communists, frankly, who are battling to take control of the Democrat (sic) Party….”
Cognetti issued a statement after the event lambasting Bresnahan for the appearance with Johnson. She argued it evinced what she alleged to be the congressman’s subservience to beltway elites.
“Instead of being the independent voice that NEPA deserves, Congressman Rob Bresnahan has teamed up with Washington party bosses like Mike Johnson to spread lies about our communities, and unleash skyrocketing prices and devastating health care cuts,” Cognetti said.
Who backs the blue?
The campaign event was designed to display the endorsements Bresnahan has won from area law enforcement. An array of local police chiefs and leaders from Fraternal Order of Police lodges were in attendance to show their support, as Bresnahan and Johnson emphasized what they said was their party’s strong commitment to law enforcement.
“Many of our local and regional law-enforcement leaders stand behind us and they’re here, because we always back the blue,” Johnson said. “That’s not true of the other side.”
Wyoming Area Regional Police Chief Mike Turner was among those praising Bresnahan, calling the congressman a “good friend” whom he has known since he was young. He credited Bresnahan with securing millions of dollars in federal funding for local police and said he “fully endorsed” his reelection.
“I’ve been a police officer for 25 years and I know who is fighting for us and who isn’t fighting for us,” Turner said.
Turner also disparaged the state of Scranton under Cognetti’s leadership.
“One thing’s for sure,” Turner said. “I don’t want my area to be the city of Scranton.”
Bresnahan asserted that average annual homicides had increased during the six years under the Cognetti administration relative to the average in the six years before the Cognetti administration.
“Rob’s opponent in this race does not support law enforcement,” Johnson said. “She doesn’t want them to have the resources they need to keep our communities safe.”
He also accused Cognetti of supporting disarming the police, citing what he described as her sympathy for protests against the police. He contrasted that with the endorsements he garnered from six local Fraternal Order of Police lodges.
Cognetti defended her record in a statement sent after Bresnahan’s campaign event. She said she had invested in millions of dollars in law enforcement and presided over a substantial drop in crime, while working to keep officers safe.
“As a mayor and as a mom, public safety is personal to me,” Cognetti said.
“Rob Bresnahan is lying about Paige’s record because he knows he can’t stand on his own record,” Cognetti campaign spokesperson Emma Mustion added in the statement.
Taking on Stock Trades
Bresnahan also defended his record on an issue his opponent and activists has tried to make a central issue of the race – congressional stock trading.
In July, Bresnahan joined with all Republicans in the House to support a bill that would bar members of Congress from buying stock in publicly traded companies outside of a blind trust and would require them to give a week’s advance notice of stock sales. (Almost all Democrats opposed the bill, because it was attached to new voter-ID requirements.)
The vote came as Bresnahan has received criticism for what had been a history of prolific stock trades. According to statistics compiled by Quiver Quantitative, Bresnahan made around 640 stock trades concerning a wide array of industries in 2025 with a total volume of $8.2 million. So far in 2026, Bresnahan has made only five trades, all in government bonds, worth just $266,000.
Bresnahan denied that his change in behavior year to year evinced that his trading his first year was inappropriate. He stressed that he never traded his own stocks, but rather had those trades handled by financial advisors.
“I adamantly agree that members of Congress should not be trading or advising their financial advisors to buy or sell individual positions, that is never something that I have done,” Bresnahan said. “This is a redundant, false accusation that continues to come in….”
Cognetti remained critical of Bresnahan in her post-event statement. She accused him of “playing the stock market in office and looking out for his own bottom line over anyone else’s.”
Bresnahan and Johnson were also pressed on whether they would support imposing on President Donald Trump. The president’s public financial disclosure report for 2025, released in June, is 927 pages long. An ABC News analysis of the disclosure concluded Trump had made 21,000 security trades with 1,600 companies, with his investment accounts growing to $858 million.
Bresnahan and Johnson did not answer whether they would support limiting Trump’s trading and they ended the news conference as they were asked again.