Scranton Mayor’s Bias Training Tied to Controversial Professor as She Seeks Congress

As the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti pointed to a police unconscious-bias initiative she launched after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The effort, known as Penn State BLUE, was delivered in collaboration with Penn State and taught by sociology professor Samuel Richards, who also runs the nation’s largest race-and-culture class. Richards attracted controversy in 2021 for confronting white students with statements linking whiteness to oppression.

Cognetti also contracted bias-in-policing training from Fair and Impartial Policing LLC and allocated $75,000 to a citywide equity plan overseen by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development. Her mayoral record includes expanding the police force, adding new vehicles and cameras, and proposing a DEI coordinator position that the council rejected. In the upcoming race, she challenges Republican Rob Bresnahan in a district that Donald Trump narrowly won in 2024, branding herself as “Paige Against the Machine.”