Final Debates Are Set in the Region’s Toss-Up Congressional Races
Voters in Pennsylvania’s most competitive congressional districts will get at least one more side-by-side look before Election Day.
WVIA will host a live televised debate between Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in the 8th District on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. The debate, at WVIA’s Pittston studios, will air on WVIA-TV, simulcast on radio and stream on YouTube, with Tracey Matisak moderating.
The 8th District race is one of a handful nationally that could decide House control. Bresnahan, a freshman, faces Cognetti, who won national attention as a mayor who took on her own party’s machine.
In the 1st District, there will be no debate at all. WHYY invited both Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democrat Bob Harvie to its Oct. 8 Studio 2 forum; after multiple invitations, Fitzpatrick declined and Harvie appeared alone.
Harvie challenged Fitzpatrick to four debates in August, proposing town-hall-style events across Bucks County and western Montgomery County. Fitzpatrick’s office did not respond.
It is a familiar pattern for the incumbent. Fitzpatrick refused to debate his 2024 Democratic challenger Ashley Ehasz and has not held an in-person town hall since 2017, according to the Bucks County Beacon.
Debates rarely decide elections, but in districts this close, a single unguarded moment can travel fast. For PA-01 voters, the comparison will have to come from dueling ads instead.
