Tuesday, Sep. 15, 2026

The 8th District's Money War

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A gorgeous fall Tuesday is on tap: sunny skies, a high near 74, and a low around 46 tonight, with just a 1 percent chance of rain. If tonight's Stroud Township Supervisors meeting, Coolbaugh Township Supervisors meeting, Mount Pocono Borough Council work session, or East Stroudsburg Borough Council meeting has you heading out this evening, you will not need a jacket. That mild, sunny stretch holds right through Wednesday before highs push into the low 80s by Thursday.

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The 8th District’s Money War

Monroe Unfiltered

If your TV has been on this week, you have probably already seen the ads. With 49 days left before the Nov. 3 election, outside political money is flooding the race for our own 8th Congressional District seat. As you probably know by now, Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R) and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti (D) are the two names on the ballot, but a lot of the spending is coming from elsewhere. According to a PoliticsPA analysis of party and PAC spending as of Sept. 12, combined outside spending in the race has hit $1,617,383, making it the 10th most expensive House race in the country among the 37 most closely watched contests nationwide, and one of three Pennsylvania seats (alongside the 7th and 10th Districts) drawing nearly $3 million combined.

The money splits close to even, with a slight edge to Cognetti's side. Republican-aligned spending, led by the Congressional Leadership Fund ($548,467), totals $767,542. Democratic-aligned spending, led by House Majority PAC ($186,357) plus other Democratic groups ($663,124), totals $849,481, an $82,000 edge so far.

The money is already showing up on air and in mailboxes. National outlets have taken notice too: a Reuters analysis flagged the Bresnahan-Cognetti race as one that could help decide which party controls the U.S. House next year. Forty-nine days to go.

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The Daily Rundown

Made it official. The Pocono Family YMCA's $21 million renovation, already underway since a quiet groundbreaking back in August and the Dunkin' lot demolition earlier this month (when I passed by this weekend, all that was left was a corner wall), got a formal ribbon and shovel ceremony Monday, per WNEP, Fox56, and WFMZ. Same project we have been tracking since summer, just with more cameras this time.

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The View from the 8thThe View from the 8th

Democrats' registration edge in the 8th keeps growing, but Republicans are not shrinking. The Democratic Party's voter registration advantage over Republicans in the 8th District is trending up, now standing at about 14,867, according to Scranton Times-Tribune reporting published Monday, up from roughly 13,716 in late July, 12,372 in early May, and 12,084 in early February. The district's registered voters now break down as 222,887 Democrats, 208,020 Republicans, and 89,676 unaffiliated or third party, out of 520,583 total.

Registration edges are not destiny either way: Bresnahan overcame a Democratic registration advantage in 2024 to beat longtime incumbent Matt Cartwright by 6,252 votes, and forecasters still call this race a toss-up.

The Pentagon’s forever chemical problem has a Monroe County address. The Pentagon has again delayed PFAS (“forever chemical”) cleanup timelines nationwide, this time pushing back work at roughly 243 military sites by up to 19 years, per reporting this month from the New York Times, Bloomberg Law, and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Tobyhanna Army Depot, the federal installation inside Monroe County, is an EPA-listed Superfund site where the Environmental Working Group has previously documented PFAS contamination. We could not independently confirm Tobyhanna is among the sites hit by this specific delay (the Pentagon’s own status chart has not been updated since June), but its place on the government’s own contamination list means this is not an abstract Washington story here. We are still digging and will update you.