Two women are dead in Biden's hometown – murdered with a machete while their mayor was partying in New York City.
Now Paige Cognetti wants a seat in Congress.
Republicans have a one-word answer for that ambition – and it's going to follow her every step of the way.
The Nickname That Captures Everything
The National Republican Congressional Committee just launched a microsite, and they didn't pull a single punch.
They're calling her "Machete Cognetti."
The name points directly to December 9, 2025 – the night Michael Woods stalked the sixth floor of Scranton's Jermyn Apartments and slaughtered two women: Linda Fortuna, 61, and Terry Muller, 59, a military veteran. Woods also stabbed Muller's golden retriever service dog, Nayla, to death.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher called it "pure evil" – the most horrific homicide Scranton had seen in 20 years.
Cognetti called it "relatively low compared to what, unfortunately, some cities suffer."
While her city was in shock, she was at cocktail receptions in New York City.
While Scranton was buried under a snowstorm months later, she was in Washington fundraising for her congressional campaign.
That's the woman the DCCC just added to its coveted "Red to Blue" list – their top-tier candidates for 2026.
A Record That Can't Be Spun Away
This isn't just about one horrific night.
Scranton recorded five homicides in the first half of 2024 alone – more than the entire previous year.
A police officer was shot in the head.
Gang violence has become a defining feature of daily life in a city already on the ropes.
Cognetti's response when confronted with those numbers: they're "stark" but "relatively low."
She didn't stop there.
In 2020, Cognetti said she wanted Scranton to become a city where police officers don't carry firearms.
"I do want to get to a point where we don't have to worry about any officers having holsters or guns in them," she said.
A city where machete murderers roam apartment hallways – and its mayor thinks the answer is disarming the police.
NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson didn't mince words ahead of the microsite's launch: Cognetti's "soft-on-crime policies have put Scranton families in the crosshairs of a violent crime wave."
The Playbook Working Across the Country
Republicans aren't just targeting Cognetti.
The Senate Leadership Fund launched a "Felon Friday" campaign against North Carolina Senate candidate Roy Cooper – spotlighting, one by one, the 3,500 criminals Cooper released early from prison and what they did after walking free.
The NRCC has tied vulnerable Democrats across New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to socialist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who built his movement on defunding the police and abolishing ICE.
The pattern is the same everywhere: Democrats run cities into the ground, then ask voters to promote them to Congress.
Cognetti is now the face of that pattern in Pennsylvania's 8th District – a swing seat Republicans won by fewer than 7,000 votes in 2024 that could help determine control of the House.
What This Really Means for 2026
Cognetti is the DCCC's handpicked candidate for one of the most competitive congressional seats in America.
She has the institutional Democratic machine behind her and national money flowing in.
She also has a nickname she cannot explain away, a crime record she cannot rewrite, and a moment – cocktails in Manhattan while Scranton mourned – that will anchor every ad Republicans run between now and November.
Rob Bresnahan's campaign manager Peter Brath put it plainly: Cognetti "has repeatedly shown a stunning disregard for the safety of her constituents."
The people of Scranton deserve a representative who puts them first.
Paige Cognetti already showed the country where her priorities are.
Republicans made sure nobody forgets it.
Sources:
- Matthew Foldi, "EXCLUSIVE: Republicans target top Dem House candidate with 'Machete Cognetti' microsite," Washington Reporter, March 9, 2026.
- Charles Creitz, "Scranton crime spike dogs Dem mayor as she challenges GOP Rep in Biden's hometown," Fox News, February 17, 2026.
- Geraldine Gibbons, "Two women killed in machete attack in Scranton; suspect in custody," The Times-Tribune, December 10, 2025.
- "Authorities release names of Scranton machete attack victims," WVIA News, December 11, 2025.
- "Looking to take back 8th District, DCCC adds Cognetti to coveted 'Red to Blue' program," Times Leader, 2026.
