Rob Bresnahan
Rob Bresnahan, a Republican businessman who has represented Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district since 2025, faces Democrat Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, in his 2026 bid for reelection.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Rob Bresnahan.
- Born
- April 22, 1990
- Birthplace
- Kingston, Pennsylvania
- Education
- Wyoming Seminary (2008)
University of Scranton (2012)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Rob Bresnahan was born on April 22, 1990, in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Wyoming Seminary in 2008 and studied business at the University of Scranton, where he was on the golf team, graduating in 2012. He married Chelsea Strub, a former news anchor and reporter at WNEP-TV, on August 16, 2025.
Career
At the age of 19, Bresnahan became chief financial officer of Kuharchik Construction, his grandfather's highway electrical business in Exeter, Pennsylvania, and he took over as CEO in 2013. He also owns RPB Ventures, a real estate development company whose projects are mostly on and around Main Street in Pittston, and he has served on regional boards including the SPCA of Luzerne County and the Wyoming Rotary Club.
Bresnahan filed to run for the Republican nomination in the 8th district in October 2023 and defeated Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright in the November 2024 general election, taking office on January 3, 2025.
In the 119th Congress he serves on the committees on Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Small Business, and he is vice chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
His stock trades drew coverage from The New York Times and NBC News in 2025, and by 2026 records showed he had stopped trading stocks.
2026 race
The 8th district is based in Northeast Pennsylvania, specifically the Wyoming Valley and the Pocono Mountains. Rob Bresnahan, who flipped the district in 2024 with 50.8% of the vote, ran unopposed in the 2026 Republican primary and received 38,075 votes. In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Democrat Paige Cognetti, mayor of Scranton since 2020, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.