Congresswoman-Elect Paige Cognetti’s Fight to End Childhood Hunger

About This Episode

Newly elected to Congress in November of 2026, Mayor Paige Cognetti brings a commitment to ending childhood hunger from Scranton to the national stage. In this special re-release of Add Passion and Stir, Billy Shore revisits his 2023 conversation with Cognetti, then Scranton’s mayor, with a new introduction on the midterm results and the anti-hunger work ahead. Cognetti shares how serving on the school board—and becoming a mother—deepened her understanding of families’ struggles. She discusses removing barriers to food assistance, building partnerships across health care and education, reaching immigrant and refugee communities, and making government work for people. At the heart of the conversation is a conviction that feeding children should bring people together, not divide them. Billy’s new introduction connects that local leadership with urgent national priorities: protecting SNAP, expanding access to school and summer meals, and strengthening support for families. Download this timely conversation about bipartisan problem-solving, community trust, and turning a commitment to children into action.