Congressman-elect Bresnahan on how he flipped a Democratic district in Pennsylvania to GOP

Newly-elected House members won’t take their seats until January but they are on Capitol Hill this week for congressional orientation. Republican Congressman-elect Rob Bresnahan is among them. He flipped his district in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania from blue to red. Bresnahan joined Geoff Bennett to discuss more.
Geoff Bennett:
Newly elected House members won’t take their seats until January, but they’re on Capitol Hill this week for orientation, a congressional crash course of sorts.
Republican congressman-elect Rob Bresnahan is among them. He flipped his district representing the northeast corner of Pennsylvania from blue to red, and he joins us now from Capitol Hill.
Congratulations on your win and welcome to the “News Hour.”
Rob Bresnahan (R) Pennsylvania Congressman-Elect: Thank you for having me. Appreciate the congratulations here.
Geoff Bennett:
So you successfully defeated a six-time Democratic incumbent. How did you do it? What was different about your approach?
Rob Bresnahan:
Listen, we ran on kitchen table issues. We ran off an economy that works, borders that are secure, and communities that are safe.
We talked about the significance of making life affordable again for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I don’t know if there was a magic sauce, but I don’t think we overcomplicated it. We knocked on over 50,000 doors. We drove over 50,000 miles, and we talked to real people. We talked to our veterans. We talked to our senior citizens who are deciding between buying prescription medication, paying for heating their homes.
We talked — I mean, we talked the real language to real people on the streets, and people were frustrated. They were concerned, and they were scared about their future.
Geoff Bennett:
To what extent do you attribute having Donald Trump atop the Republican ticket? He won Pennsylvania, obviously, but won it with the most votes any GOP presidential candidate has ever received in Pennsylvania.
Rob Bresnahan:
Donald Trump also won my district in 2016. He won it in 2020, and obviously he won it again in 2024. However, we were the first candidate to be able to tail Donald Trump and put up enough of a margin to be able to successfully win the seat.
But we had to run a good campaign. We had to stay on our message. And we had to interact with the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania and still have a message that would resonate.
Geoff Bennett:
When you tell your constituents that you’re going to help make their lives more affordable, what specifically are you and the expected GOP House majority, how specifically are you planning to do that?
Rob Bresnahan:
Well, I can talk about me specifically, and something that I’m a big believer in is a balanced budget. And I’m also a big believer on energy being the biggest derivative of the escalation of the cost of inflation.
So, I mean, Northeastern Pennsylvania, one in two homes are heated by natural gas. Pennsylvania, the natural gas industry generates over $76 billion a year in payroll and 40 — $76 billion in GDP and $45 billion in payroll.
So being able to generate natural gas and the fracking industry specifically from in Pennsylvania, I think, is going to be a big driver, also working on advanced manufacturing, working on economic opportunities beyond just you have skilled trade. And I’m a big believer in infrastructure. And reinvesting into Northeastern Pennsylvania, rebuilding Northeastern Pennsylvania will certainly add to the economic opportunities.
Geoff Bennett:
I want to draw on your business background and talk about Trump’s promised tariffs. He’s pledged to slap 60 percent tariffs on all goods coming in from China and 10 percent tariffs on goods imported from everywhere else.
Pennsylvania could be hit hard. It’s got a big manufacturing industry, steel, obviously, agriculture. How concerned do you are about the impact of president-elect Trump’s second round of protectionist trade initiatives?
Rob Bresnahan:
Well, obviously, we have to be cognizant of the idea of the fact that people are struggling inside of the district. And it’s certainly something that over the next two weeks while I’m down here and while I’m prepared to be sworn in that we’re going to watch carefully.
Obviously, people in my district are choosing between heating their homes, prescription medication, putting fuel in their vehicles, buying groceries. So anything that’s going to escalate the cost of living is certainly going to be a lot harder for me to wrap my head around.
Like I said from day one, I’m about any PA. Yes, I’m a Republican. I’m fiscally conservative. But at the end of the day, I have been elected by the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. But obviously we have to put America first. We have to put our constituents first. And that’s something that I’m going to make decisions on every single day.
Geoff Bennett:
As a newcomer to Congress, what did you make of the high degree of dysfunction within the Republican Conference?
Rob Bresnahan:
I filed to run October 2 of last year. And the first day on my campaign trail was the Speaker McCarthy vote. And I remember looking at my fiancee at the kitchen table saying, this is exactly why I need to run.
I never ran for a public office before. I am a political outsider. And you look at the frustrations of what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and I always felt that it was broken, that Congress wasn’t working for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. And I was a person of Northeastern Pennsylvania. And you look around and you see election-year press conference after election-year press conference and ultimately nothing is getting done.
And it certainly leads to a level of frustration. I have always been a person to roll up my sleeves. To whom much is given, much is required. And it’s a big reason why I’m — I ran for Congress and now a member-elect.
Geoff Bennett:
Congressman-elect Rob Bresnahan, thanks again for being with us.
Rob Bresnahan:
Thank you for having me.