Rob Bresnahan, a Republican, is seeking to unseat the longtime incumbent in the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — Rob Bresnahan’s run for Congress can be boiled down to three main pillars: “an economy that works, a border that’s secure, communities that are safe.”
In a meeting with the Times Leader Media Group Editorial Board, Bresnahan broke down his approach to achieving the goals tied to those pillars, which frequently bled into each other.
As a business owner born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania, Bresnahan touted himself as a job creator and a supporter of the community at large.
In running against six-term Congressman Matt Cartwright, the Bresnahan campaign has knocked on over 20,000 doors across the 8th district.
Bresnahan said the economy and inflation are two of the top concerns for the people in the district based on his conversations. He referred to them as “kitchen table issues” and “the cost of being alive.”
“That’s not a Republican issue. It’s not a Democrat issue. That is just what people feel day in and day out,” Bresnahan said.
He focused, at numerous points, on his regard for senior citizens, whose top concerns often include paying for groceries and heating their homes. In addition, Bresnahan pushed back on the idea that he would cut Social Security, saying he has no intention of doing so.
Bresnahan also pointed to the ballooning national debt, which currently sits at over $35 trillion. He said the country is currently “throwing good money at a bad problem” by spending “$900 billion a year just on debt service.”
Border security
The topic of the United States’ southern border has been a top issue for Bresnahan during his campaign. He said he has been to the border two times — once near Yuma, Arizona, and again near Sierra Vista, Arizona.
In Yuma, Bresnahan described watching men, women and children coming across the border and giving themselves up to border patrol agents. Soon after, he claimed that one of those crossing migrants was seen catching a flight from Phoenix to Newark.
In Sierra Vista, Bresnahan painted a sinister picture of the migrant crossings.
“These are people that are not eligible for asylum. They are cartel-organized, gang-run operations,” Bresnahan said. “This is what I saw.”
Bresnahan described the crossings as a “humanitarian crisis,” and he tied the desperate status of border security back to those kitchen table issues.
“I think about our own residents, and our own people, struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families and pay their school property taxes,” Bresnahan said. “There’s a clear dichotomy there of what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Community safety
In discussing the safety of local communities, Bresnahan paired the importance of strong infrastructure and the need for investing in police.
He claimed taking care of a car costs the average Pennsylvania motorist an average of $1,000 a year due to roads that are “decrepit or falling apart.”
Bresnahan added that the 8th congressional district’s bridges are lagging behind the rest of the state.
“In this district, specifically, 1 in 4 bridges are deemed structurally deficient, which is actually the highest out of all of the Pennsylvania congressional districts,” said Bresnahan.
On the topic of crime, Bresnahan noted that the area’s relatively close proximity to New York and Philadelphia means investing in police is critical.
“It is the foundation to any thriving, successful community,” Bresnahan said of keeping the streets safe.
Reproductive rights
On the issue of abortion, Bresnahan indicated that it is not a problem for the federal government to solve. He railed against negative attack ads, which he said are painting him as an extremist on reproductive rights.
“I’ve been on the record, from day one, that I would never support a federal ban on abortion,” Bresnahan said.
He also said he believes in exceptions in cases of rape, incense and the life of the mother.
Bipartisanship
A self-proclaimed “independent thinker,” Bresnahan was clear in his intention to join the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives, in an effort to foster productive relationships with his Democratic colleagues. Bresnahan also said he would vote in the best interest of the people of the region, even if it meant bucking party politics.
“It doesn’t matter if there’s an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to my name,” Bresnahan said. “The only letters should be N-E-P-A.”
Bresnahan said that, if elected, he would prioritize serving on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Locally, Bresnahan shared his intention to meet with every state senator and representative that serves within the 8th congressional district, regardless of their party affiliation.
Bresnahan framed his opponent, Cartwright, as a partisan who breaks with the Democrats “less than two percent of the time.”
Foreign policy
Bresnahan called Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “a war criminal to fullest extent,” and described the current state of affairs in Ukraine as “horrific.” The countries have been in a state of escalated conflict since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Bresnahan said Ukraine has the total right to defend itself against Russia but American aid and support can not be an “open check book.”
At the suggestion that a genocide is being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Bresnahan could not weigh in on the matter.
“I don’t even know how to answer that question,” said Bresnahan. “I’m not there. I’m in northeastern PA.”
Election misinformation
Bresnahan admitted that former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, and that 2020 and 2022 Republican congressional candidate Jim Bognet lost to Cartwright that same year. That admittance, however, came with some hesitation.
“I wasn’t a member of Congress. I’m not sure what I saw,” Bresnahan said of the 2020 races, adding that there may have been issues in Luzerne County stemming from turnover in the election office.
Generally, Bresnahan emphasized the importance of moving on rather than rehashing the results of previous elections.
“I’m a forward-looking person,” he said.
Labor
With a union background, Bresnahan talked specifically about the future of labor, and said he would legislate with his union roots in mind.
“We are always going to need electricians. We are always going to need carpenters. We are always going to need HVAC and plumbers,” Bresnahan said, mentioning that some jobs will not or can not be taken by artificial intelligence (AI).
As a business owner, Bresnahan discussed his cooperation with collective bargaining agreements.
Bresnahan added that he would like to see the expansion of 529 plans, which helps students in college, trade schools and vocational schools pay for their educational expenses.
In a statement shared with the Times Leader following the editorial board meeting, Bresnahan shared the following about his professional relationship with his family’s business, Kuharchik Construction:
“Over the past decade of my leadership, Kuharchik Construction has grown 400%. We provide family-sustaining careers for 150 union members. I want to provide more than that; that’s why we partnered with Midwestern Electric out of Illinois. Our combined companies now provide 500 union careers. I still own Kuharchik, as you can see in my financial disclosure. What this is really about is Congressman Cartwright feeling self-conscious about his record of selling out American companies with policies that benefit China and lying about delivering for northeast Pennsylvania. Cartwright promised thousands of new union jobs in Nanticoke at the gas plant, but he lied. I’ll put my record of providing local union careers up against his nonexistent record any day.”
ROB BRESNAHAN BIO
Party: Republican
Age: 34
Town of Residence: Dallas Township
Occupation: President, RPB Ventures LLC
Education: University of Scranton (BBA)
Family: Chelsea Strub (fiancée)
DISTRICT INFO
The 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania includes all of Lackawanna, Pike, Wayne and parts of Luzerne County, consisting of the boroughs of Ashley, Avoca, Bear Creek Village, Courtdale, Dupont, Duryea, Edwardsville, Exeter, Forty Fort, Freeland, Harveys Lake, Hughestown, Jeddo, Kingston, Laflin, Larksville, Laurel Run, Luzerne, Nuangola, Penn Lake Park, Plymouth, Pringle, Sugar Notch, Swoyersville, Warrior Run, West Hazleton, West Pittston, West Wyoming, White Haven, Wyoming and Yatesville; and the cities of Hazleton, Nanticoke, Pittston and Wilkes-Barre; and the townships of Bear Creek, Buck, Butler, Dallas, Dennison, Exeter, Fairview, Foster, Franklin, Hanover, Hazle (part), Jackson, Jenkins, Kingston, Newport, Pittston, Plains, Plymouth, Rice, Wilkes-Barre and Wright and parts of Monroe County consisting of the boroughs of Delaware Water Gap, East Stroudsburg, Mount Pocono, Stroudsburg; and the townships of Barrett, Chestnuthill, Coolbaugh, Hamilton, Jackson, Middle Smithfield, Paradise, Pocono, Polk, Price, Smithfield (part), Stroud, Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock.