Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti is taking her fight against foreign and domestic big-tech interests to the airwaves in a Pennsylvania congressional race that could determine control of the U.S. House. The Democrat launched a $200,000 television ad buy targeting artificial intelligence data centers, a direct appeal to a working-class constituency with deep roots in coal and manufacturing that has seen its energy security threatened by unaccountable corporate expansion.
"Big companies have come before, took what they wanted and left us with their mess to clean up. Now it’s data centers. Big Tech needs to pay their own way. Not hide behind NDAs. No tax breaks. Don’t raise our electric bills, don’t poison our water," Cognetti says in the ad.
The ad frames the proliferation of data-center projects as a threat to American workers and domestic energy stability. Cognetti specifically targets the tax incentives often handed to developers and the rising residential electric bills driven by the massive power consumption of these facilities, a direct consequence of policies prioritizing globalist tech dominance over the needs of American households. The campaign promises to demand local, union labor for any approved projects, aligning economic nationalism with the preservation of community standards.
While the White House has made expediting data centers a pillar of its strategy against China, citing the need for AI superiority, grassroots backlash is mounting across the country, including in northeastern Pennsylvania where new high-voltage transmission lines are planned. The Cognetti campaign is betting that protecting American workers from corporate giveaways will resonate more than abstract tech races. Her opponent, freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, has introduced the "Local Control Protection Act" which purports to limit the ability of billion-dollar corporations to sue municipalities that deny zoning applications. The bill, however, has no cosponsors and has not moved out of committee, raising questions about whether it is a substantive counter or mere election-year posturing.
The costs shifted to local ratepayers and the environmental impact on domestic water supplies have become central flashpoints. The Cognetti ad's blunt closing—"This is our home. We are not for sale"—channels the growing fury over an energy policy that seems designed to benefit coastal tech monopolies and foreign supply chains at the direct expense of American industrial communities. The race is a leading indicator of whether such a national-populist message can flip a swing seat in November.