A Democratic candidate is facing scrutiny over an apparent reversal on the southern border as she seeks to flip a battleground House seat this year.
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti recently criticized former President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border, calling it “a huge misstep” and “really terrible” during a March podcast appearance.
The House hopeful, however, did not appear to publicly criticize the administration’s border policies when Biden was president.
Cognetti, who has served as the mayor of Biden’s hometown since 2020, is vying to unseat freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan in November’s midterm elections. The Northeastern Pennsylvania contest promises to be one of the most competitive House elections this year.
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Cognetti’s recent messaging criticizing Biden comes as some Democrats have largely pivoted toward the center on border security after the party’s messaging fell flat in 2024.
When Cognetti called for “better control at our borders” during a September 2021 interview with a local outlet, she did not appear to hold the Biden administration responsible for the problem.
In August 2023, Cognetti co-signed a letter with a handful of Pennsylvania mayors appearing to approve of the Biden administration’s approach to the border.
“You are working to bring more order to the southern border with a combination of strategies,” the group wrote to Biden, adding that he had “rightfully promised” to tie border security with expanding pathways to citizenship for illegal immigrants living in the United States.
A spokesperson for Cognetti said the mayor had been consistent in urging Biden to secure the border during his presidency.
“Like a lot of Northeastern Pennsylvanians, she has seen what the scourge of Fentanyl has done to our community and has said that President Biden didn’t do enough to secure the southern border,” the spokeswoman said, adding that Cognetti is “no stranger to calling out politicians from either political party when they get it wrong.”
Cognetti also advocated for a more lenient approach to immigration when Biden was president, arguing immigrants, including those who entered the U.S. illegally, “contribute greatly to our cultural and economic growth.”
The 2023 letter to Biden that Cognetti signed urged the president to grant and expand legal protections to Venezuelan, Honduran, Salvadoran and Nicaraguan nationals living in the United States.
Cognetti, who became mayor in 2020, also called for mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants during the onset of Biden’s presidency in July 2021. She warned that failure to deliver pathways to citizenship could become a “national security issue,” The Center Square reported.
“If we don’t do this now, we will start to erode in our strength and that becomes a national security issue,” Cognetti told reporters.
Bresnahan said Cognetti’s support for mass amnesty would make the district less safe and accused her mayoral tenure of resulting in a Scranton crime spike in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Mayor Paige Cognetti’s soft-on-crime policies have already led to a spike in violence in Scranton, and her support for legalizing every illegal immigrant in the country will only make things worse, especially in her city where she downplays homicides and gang violence and wants to disarm the police,” Bresnahan said.
A spokesperson for Cognetti fired back that the mayor has a “proven track record” of investing in local law enforcement and said she has overseen a decrease in violent crime.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the swing contest as “Lean Republican.”
Democrat swing candidate called Biden’s border handling ‘a huge misstep’ after backing his approach as mayor 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-04-07 21:02:39 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
