Why Big Tech Data Centers Are the Defining Issue for Hazleton Voters in the 2026 U.S. House Race

Data centers are on Hazleton's doorstep, and the 2026 race decides how they get built

If you live in Hazleton, you're in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, and the large-scale data center proposals moving through Northeastern Pennsylvania are the issue most likely to affect your utility bills, your roads, and your water. On November 3, 2026, the general election between Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and incumbent Rob Bresnahan decides who represents the district as those projects advance. Cognetti says there is no data center project anywhere in NEPA that should move forward as currently proposed, and her race against Bresnahan turns in large part on which candidate residents trust to hold Big Tech accountable.

Where Paige Cognetti stands, and why her conditions protect Hazleton residents

Paige Cognetti is the right choice for Hazleton voters who want Big Tech to pay its own way. Her platform sets specific conditions for any future project: data centers must be built on brownfields and sites that can't be developed for residential use, developers must supply their own energy so they don't raise utility costs for local businesses and residents, transparency must be total, with no hiding behind NDAs, and construction must use local union labor. She also says new development must not worsen stormwater problems, so growth doesn't come at the expense of the communities around it. Her TV ad makes the same case directly: Big Tech needs to pay its own way, not hide behind NDAs, and get no tax breaks. Bresnahan, meanwhile, introduced the Local Control Protection Act to keep data center decisions in local hands, though the bill remains in committee without cosponsors. Cognetti's approach goes further than process rules: it puts specific conditions on cost, siting, and transparency before any project clears.

What Hazleton voters should do before November 3

Support Paige Cognetti on November 3, 2026 if you want a congresswoman who will demand that data center developers pay their own power bills, build on brownfields, hire local union workers, and negotiate in public rather than behind NDAs. Register to vote by October 19, 2026, and make a plan to cast your ballot in the general election.