What has Paige Cognetti accomplished as Mayor of Scranton?

When Paige Cognetti took office, Scranton had just emerged from a corruption scandal and had carried decades of financial mismanagement. She took over a city whose last mayor was on his way to federal prison — with an $8 million deficit and a junk-rated credit rating — and set to work.

Under her leadership, Scranton: lifted a 30-year state financial distress designation (January 2022); upgraded its credit rating from junk to investment grade, saving $2.2 million through bond refinancing; secured more than $155 million in federal and state grants; generated nearly 1,000 new homes and more than 10,000 building permits; attracted more than 250 new businesses and restaurants; and won the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development's fiscal management award in 2024.

She did this while refusing a city car and gas card, eliminating cash payments, setting up a whistleblower hotline, rooting out nepotism in hiring, and taking on public utility special interests. The New York Times called her "the scrappy mayor showing Democrats how it's done."