Former TV anchor Janelle Stelson defeats Trump ally Scott Perry in tense central Pa. congressional rematch
Stelson's win coms two years after her very narrow loss in the Harrisburg-area district.
Democrat Janelle Stelson defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in their rematch to represent the Harrisburg-based 10th District congressional seat, the Associated Press projected Tuesday.
Stelson, a former TV anchor with name recognition in the district, managed to overtake Perry in the swing district as voters expressed their frustration with President Donald Trump at the polls, after losing to the GOP incumbent in 2024 by just over 1 percentage point.
As suburban voters moved further toward the Democratic Party, Perry, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, struggled to hold on. Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won the district during his 2022 campaign, endorsed and campaigned with Stelson in the summer and fall to boost her campaign.
“Forgive me,” Stelson said Tuesday night at her victory party in Hershey. “I’m kind of in shock.” Once she regained her composure, Stelson said that people ask what her first job will be. “One of the things I say is, ‘End the war in Iran.’”
The crowed roared its approval.
The 10th Congressional District covers Dauphin County as well as parts of York and Cumberland counties. And in a district the president won just two years ago, his job approval rating among voters sunk to 43%, with 55% disapproving, according to the recent Inquirer/NYT/Siena poll.
Meghan Getz, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher from Dillsburg, pointed to Perry’s vote for Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut funding for Medicaid and food assistance to pay for tax breaks, when she cast her ballot for Stelson.
“Her core values, like supporting food stamps and Medicaid, are just better than Perry’s,” said Getz, an elementary school art teacher. “I just really feel like we need more Democratic people in Congress to change it and stop.”
Other voters in the tight race appreciated the incumbent’s close association with the president.
“Perry is with Trump on things like tariffs, which are the only way to get manufacturing back, and the jobs that come with it. Trump cares more about jobs than Stelson, or any other Democrat,” said Michael Phipps, a 75-year-old retired mechanic from Dillsburg.
This year’s rematch added an additional layer of bitterness between the candidates who traded insults and allegations.
Perry accused Stelson of harboring inside her campaign an immigrant who authorities say was in the country illegally. Although the Nigerian man was found with campaign materials from Stelson at the time of his police arrest, she said he was not a volunteer or staff member and denounced illegal entry into the U.S. during Perry and Stelson’s congressional debate.
Meanwhile, Stelson painted Perry, a close ally of Donald Trump, as an election denier. Perry led the effort to contest Pennsylvania’s electoral votes within hours of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 and was investigated by the select House committee for his alleged role in helping craft Trump’s strategy to stay in office despite his 2020 loss. The second time around, voters bought her depiction of Perry.
“I mean he tried to overthrow the government, then asked for a pardon,” said David Koppenhoffer, a 79-year-old Democrat from Harrisburg. “He doesn’t belong in Congress. He belongs in jail.”
Stelson also framed the stakes of the election around cost-of-living concerns, blaming Perry, a close ally of Trump, for his support of the war in Iran that she and experts have said led to a spike in oil costs throughout the summer and fall. Voters, in the Inquirer/NYT/Siena poll conducted in October, said the economy and cost-of-living concerns were their top priorities, and in a heavily-suburban district, gas prices were front and center.
Jess Troutman, a 40-year-old Dillsburg Democrat, pointed to these issues as her reason for backing Shapiro and Stelson Tuesday. “Shapiro and Stelson are cohesive in moving in a direction people want to be going toward,” Troutman said. “A lot of us are struggling to afford day-to-day things, and can’t continue this way.”
