They are off and running in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District with Republican challenger Jim Bognet calling out Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright on his recent ad.

Cartwright, the 60-year-old five-term incumbent from Moosic, released an ad stating that he helped pass a bill to go after the big oil companies that are gouging people. He also said he’s helping turn local shale gas into regular car gas by supporting a new plant in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Bognet, the 46-year-old Hazle Township resident responded in a press release, “Matt Cartwright should be embarrassed that his first TV ad so blatantly misleads his constituents. Matt Cartwright has backed every single move Joe Biden has made that has driven gas prices over $5 per gallon. Northeast Pennsylvania has the highest gas prices in the commonwealth, and Cartwright and Biden have done nothing to provide relief at the gas pump. November is coming, and Matt Cartwright cannot gaslight his way out of his responsibility for the record gas prices Pennsylvanians are seeing.”

Cartwright serves on the House Appropriations Committee and is the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice and Science, where he oversees more than $70 billion in annual federal spending on matters of economic development, law enforcement, and science and innovation.

Bognet is the owner of JRB Strategies, a communications and management consulting company, and a former Trump administration official.

PA-08 will be one of the most closely watched races in the Commonwealth this fall. The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. The district contains Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and the Pocono Mountain region of Northeast Pennsylvania.

Cartwright had $2.09 million cash on hand as of the last FEC filing at the end of April, while Bognet has slightly over $465,000 in hand. Cartwright defeated Bognet, 52-48, in a Trump +3 district in 2020.