Democrat Paige Cognetti is running a $200,000 TV ad blitz against AI data centers in her bid to oust freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan — targeting the very infrastructure projects that could bring jobs and investment to a Pennsylvania district that needs both.
The Scranton mayor's campaign puts the Democratic Party's calculus on display: sabotage American economic development rather than let Republicans claim a win on the AI buildout that President Trump has made central to competing with China.
In the 30-second ad, Cognetti invokes the region's history with extractive industries. "Big companies have come before, taken what they wanted and left us with their mess to clean up," she says. "Now it's data centers." She rails against corporate secrecy, tax breaks for developers, and rising electric bills across the mid-Atlantic — real concerns for working families. Her demands: no NDAs, no tax giveaways, no higher utility costs, no poisoned water — and hire local union labor. "Big Tech needs to pay their own way," Cognetti says, before telling developers to "get out" if they won't comply. "This is our home. We are not for sale."
What Cognetti doesn't mention: Bresnahan already introduced legislation to curb the same corporate power she's denouncing. His Local Control Protection Act would limit a corporation's right to sue over local zoning decisions that deny data center applications. "We should never let billion-dollar corporations supersede the voices of those who live in the community," Bresnahan said in June. The bill hasn't moved out of committee or attracted a single cosponsor — from either party.
The Associated Press framed the race as one of Democrats' best pickup opportunities to take the House and "block President Donald Trump's agenda." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran the same AP wire with nearly identical framing. Both outlets noted Trump's push for data centers to compete with China on AI, and both acknowledged that communities across the country — including in northeastern Pennsylvania — have fought data center projects, with some disputes landing in court.
The concerns Cognetti raises aren't invented. Tax giveaways to billion-dollar corporations, opaque NDAs, and utility costs squeezing working families are real problems. But her answer isn't reform — it's rejection. "Get out" isn't a policy. It's a slogan that kills capital investment in a district where people need paychecks.
And if both parties agree that corporate power is running over local communities, why does Bresnahan's bill sit dead in committee with zero cosponsors?
The question for Pennsylvania voters: who's actually solving the problem — and who's just running a commercial?