Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2026

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Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Pennsylvania
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Lean Republican DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Lean Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th Pennsylvania elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House raceOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Rob Bresnahan Jr. and Paige Cognetti are running in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Rob Bresnahan Jr. (R)
	Submit photo	Paige Cognetti (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Candidate profiles

There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here. You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Rob Bresnahan Jr.
• Paige Cognetti

Voting information

See also: Voting in Pennsylvania

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Paige Cognetti
• Rob Bresnahan Jr.

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Rob Bresnahan Jr.	Republican Party	$1,724,189	$915,448	$861,894	As of June 30, 2025
Paige Cognetti	Democratic Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/9/2025	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

2024

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024

Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)

Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Rob Bresnahan Jr. defeated incumbent Matt Cartwright in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rob Bresnahan Jr. (R)	50.7	195,663
		Matt Cartwright (D)	49.1	189,411
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	654

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 385,728
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	98.9	58,573
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	632

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 59,205
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Rob Bresnahan Jr. advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rob Bresnahan Jr.	99.0	42,365
		Other/Write-in votes	1.0	419

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 42,784
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2022

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright defeated Jim Bognet in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright (D)	51.2	146,956
		Jim Bognet (R)	48.8	139,930

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 286,886
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	100.0	68,696

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,696
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brian Kelly (D)
• Jon Lanzaro-Fisher (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Jim Bognet defeated Mike Marsicano in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Bognet	68.7	47,097
		Mike Marsicano	31.3	21,436

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,533
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Teddy Daniels (R)

2020

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright defeated Jim Bognet in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright (D)	51.8	178,004
		Jim Bognet (R)	48.2	165,783

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 343,787
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	100.0	75,101

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,101
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Bognet	28.4	16,281
		Teddy Daniels	23.7	13,560
	Submit photo	Earl Granville	23.2	13,283
		Mike Marsicano	12.9	7,404
		Harry Haas	9.4	5,369
	Submit photo	Mikel Cammisa	2.4	1,367

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,264
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

See also

Pennsylvania	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Pennsylvania congressional delegation Voting in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Pennsylvania's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Fetterman (D)

David McCormick (R)

Representatives

District 1

Brian Fitzpatrick (R)

District 2

Brendan Boyle (D)

District 3

Dwight Evans (D)

District 4

Madeleine Dean (D)

District 5

Mary Scanlon (D)

District 6

Chrissy Houlahan (D)

District 7

Ryan Mackenzie (R)

District 8

Rob Bresnahan (R)

District 9

Dan Meuser (R)

District 10

Scott Perry (R)

District 11

Lloyd Smucker (R)

District 12

Summer Lee (D)

District 13

John Joyce (R)

District 14

Guy Reschenthaler (R)

District 15

Glenn Thompson (R)

District 16

Mike Kelly (R)

District 17

Chris Deluzio (D)

Republican Party (11)

Democratic Party (8)

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