Election shows Democratic label continues to carry weight in county

Amid the presence of serious independent candidates in several races and despite months of local intraparty discord, the results of Tuesday’s municipal election show it still helps to run as a Democrat in Lackawanna County.

Democrats of different stripes and styles dominated here, taking advantage of a considerable Democratic voter registration advantage and other factors working in the party’s favor to win a special election for county commissioner and sweep every contested county row office and municipal mayoral race on the ballot.

In Scranton, where Democrats outnumber Republicans in every one of the city’s 48 precincts, incumbent Democratic Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti cruised to reelection despite having already announced a 2026 campaign for Congress in the 8th Congressional District. Cognetti claimed about 57% of the vote in a crowded field, with Republican Patricia “Trish” Beynon and independent candidate Gene Barrett each earning about 21%.

Barrett, a former Democratic city councilman and former Scranton Sewer Authority executive director, had entertained but ultimately opted not to challenge Cognetti in the Democratic primary for mayor she easily won in May by defeating Democratic former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/election-shows-democratic-label-continues-200300904.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall