Matt Cartwright

Matthew Alton Cartwright (born May 1, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a Representative from Pennsylvania in the United States Congress from 2013 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district from January 3, 2013, until the district was renumbered and reconfigured as the 8th congressional district, which he then represented through the end of his service. The district includes a large swath of northeastern Pennsylvania, anchored by Scranton, Wilkes‑Barre, and the Poconos. Over six terms in office, Cartwright contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, participating in the democratic process and representing the interests of his constituents.

Cartwright was born on May 1, 1961, in Erie, Pennsylvania, the son of Alton S. Cartwright and Adelaide (Igoe) Cartwright. He spent part of his youth in Canada, attending Upper Canada College in Toronto, from which he graduated in 1979. He then enrolled at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he majored in history and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983. At Hamilton he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, reflecting his strong academic performance. In 1981, during his undergraduate years, he attended the London School of Economics, an experience that broadened his international perspective and during which he met his future wife, Marion Munley, a member of a prominent northeastern Pennsylvania legal family.

Following his undergraduate studies, Cartwright pursued a legal education at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, receiving his Juris Doctor degree in 1986. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar that same year. After law school, he began his legal career as an associate in the litigation department of the Philadelphia firm Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, where he practiced commercial and securities litigation. In 1988, he and Marion Munley joined the Munley family’s law firm in the Scranton area, marking the beginning of his long association with that region of Pennsylvania. Cartwright was later admitted to the Bar of New York in 2005, expanding the geographic scope of his legal practice.

For 24 years, Cartwright worked as an attorney and partner at Munley, Munley and Cartwright, a Scranton firm representing victims, consumers, and small businesses in personal injury and business litigation. His work there focused on advocacy for individuals and smaller entities in complex civil cases. In 2008, he was inducted into the International Society of Barristers, an honor recognizing trial lawyers of exceptional skill and integrity. Beyond his courtroom practice, Cartwright became a visible legal commentator; between 2005 and 2011 he served as the on‑air legal analyst for “The Law & You,” a nightly segment on NBC affiliate WBRE‑TV’s evening newscast, in which he fielded viewer questions on legal matters. In 2011, he co‑authored the legal treatise “Litigating Commercial and Business Tort Cases,” published by Thomson Reuters, further establishing his professional reputation. From 2009 to 2012, he served on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice, reflecting his active role in national trial‑lawyer organizations.

Cartwright’s engagement in public and civic life predated his congressional career. During the 1992 presidential election, he was an elected delegate for Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district. He also held leadership roles in community and service organizations; in 2001–2002, he served as District Governor for Rotary International District 7410, covering northeastern Pennsylvania. On November 5, 2010, the Boy Scouts of America’s Northeastern Pennsylvania Council presented him with its Silver Beaver Award in recognition of his volunteer service to that organization. These activities, combined with his legal and media work, increased his visibility and connections in northeastern Pennsylvania Democratic politics.

Cartwright’s path to Congress was shaped by redistricting following the 2010 United States census. Pennsylvania Republicans, who controlled the redistricting process, significantly altered the boundaries of the 17th congressional district. Formerly based around Harrisburg and anchored in traditionally Republican central Pennsylvania, the district was pushed north and east to absorb heavily Democratic Scranton and Wilkes‑Barre, which had previously been in the 11th district. The demographic and political character of the district changed markedly: John McCain had carried the old 17th with 51 percent of the vote in 2008, but the new configuration was anchored in northeastern Pennsylvania, historically one of the most Democratic regions of the state outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Barack Obama would have carried the redrawn district with 56 percent of the vote. In this new environment, Cartwright challenged long‑time Democratic incumbent Tim Holden in the 2012 primary. Running as a self‑described “FDR Democrat” and “from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party,” he positioned himself as an ally of President Obama on taxes and health care reform and pledged to work with U.S. Senator Robert P. Casey Jr., also of Scranton, on safety regulations for hydraulic fracturing. He received support from MoveOn.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Campaign for Primary Accountability, and benefited from endorsements by local figures such as State Representative Phyllis Mundy and former Scranton mayor Jimmy Connors. Holden’s opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and his support for energy legislation that included the so‑called Halliburton loophole were widely seen as contributing to his vulnerability. An internal poll showed Cartwright leading Holden, and on April 24, 2012, Cartwright defeated him in the Democratic primary by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. In the November 6, 2012 general election, he faced Republican Laureen Cummings, a nurse and leader of the Scranton Tea Party, and won decisively, 61 percent to 39 percent, becoming the district’s next congressman. On January 4, 2013, his fellow freshmen selected him as a class president of the 49 new Democratic members of the 113th Congress.

During his six terms in the House of Representatives, from 2013 to 2025, Cartwright represented northeastern Pennsylvania through a period of shifting political alignments. He won reelection on November 4, 2014, to a second term by defeating Republican challenger David Moylan, M.D., the elected coroner of Schuylkill County, by 13.6 points. On November 8, 2016, he secured a third term by defeating Republican businessman Matthew Connolly of Northampton County by seven points. In the 2016 general election, however, President Donald Trump carried the 17th district by more than 10 percent, even as Cartwright held his seat by his narrowest margin to that point. Because he faced an underfunded opponent, Cartwright did not run television advertisements that year, and his reduced margin led the National Republican Congressional Committee to identify him as a top target. In response, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee placed him on its “Frontline” list of vulnerable incumbents, though the district was still generally rated as “Likely Democratic.”

Following a 2018 decision by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that invalidated the state’s congressional map, Cartwright’s district was renumbered as the 8th congressional district and redrawn to cover the northeast corner of the state while sweeping west to include Scranton and Wilkes‑Barre. The new 8th district absorbed the remainder of Lackawanna County that had been in the 10th district and almost all of Luzerne County. In the 2018 election, Cartwright faced a self‑funding Republican opponent who spent $1.7 million of family funds and, with support from the National Republican Congressional Committee, outspent Cartwright by nearly $300,000, including $625,778 in direct NRCC expenditures. Despite the financial disadvantage and without financial assistance from the DCCC, Cartwright won a fourth term with 54.65 percent of the vote, a 9.3‑point margin. After the election, he was elected to House Democratic leadership as co‑chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee for the 116th Congress.

Cartwright continued to win reelection in a district that increasingly favored Republican presidential candidates. On November 3, 2020, despite Donald Trump again carrying the 8th district—this time by 4.4 points over Democratic nominee and Scranton native Joe Biden—Cartwright won a fifth term, defeating Republican challenger Jim Bognet, a former senior vice president for communications at the Export–Import Bank of the United States, by 3.6 points. His 2020 performance represented an 8‑point over‑performance relative to the presidential result, the largest such over‑performance by a Democrat in Pennsylvania and the second largest for a Democrat in any Trump‑carried House district nationwide, behind only Jared Golden of Maine. As a result, Cartwright became one of only seven incumbent Democratic representatives to win in districts carried by Trump in 2020, and one of only three Democrats to defend their seats successfully in districts that Trump had carried in both 2016 and 2020. Following the 2020 election, he was re‑elected by his colleagues as co‑chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee for the 117th Congress. On January 25, 2021, he was elected chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, giving him a key role in shaping funding for federal law enforcement, scientific research, and related programs.

In the 2022 midterm elections, Cartwright ran for a sixth term in a rematch against Jim Bognet. The race in Pennsylvania’s 8th District was widely viewed as potentially pivotal in determining whether Democrats would maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Outside spending on behalf of Bognet increased dramatically compared with 2020, rising from $383,105 in that earlier race to $7,267,960 in 2022. Despite this surge in outside support for his opponent, Cartwright won reelection by 2.4 points. During that cycle, he faced scrutiny after he appeared in advertisements praising a law firm that was one of his top donors. Axios described the spots as “an apparent misunderstanding over video shot for the Pennsylvania Democrat’s bill about water contamination at Camp Lejeune.” Because members of Congress are prohibited from using official resources to promote commercial activity, Cartwright sent a cease‑and‑desist letter to the firm, which subsequently took down the ads. Following the 2022 election, Cartwright was notable as the only member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus representing a district that had voted for Donald Trump for president.

Throughout his congressional tenure, Cartwright served on the powerful House Committee on Appropriations. In addition to chairing the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, he served on the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government. Within the House Democratic Caucus, he was a member of the House Democratic Committee on Steering and Policy and was elected as an at‑large representative for Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. His caucus memberships reflected a broad range of policy interests, including service in the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Ukraine Caucus, House Military Depot and Industrial Facilities Caucus, Congressional Solar Caucus, Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Caucus, Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus, United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus, Veterinary Medicine Caucus, Climate Solutions Caucus, Blue Collar Caucus, and House Pro‑Choice Caucus.

Cartwright’s congressional service came to an end following the 2024 election cycle. The 8th District race that year was widely considered a toss‑up, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee again placed him in its “Frontline Program,” providing additional fundraising and strategic support due to his vulnerable incumbency status. In the 2024 House elections, Cartwright was unseated, losing to first‑time Republican challenger Rob Bresnahan in the general election. His defeat ended twelve years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 2013 to 2025, during which he had represented northeastern Pennsylvania through multiple redistricting cycles and shifting partisan dynamics.