Janelle Stelson almost beat Scott Perry in 2024. She keeps outraising him as she prepares for a rematch.
Democrat Janelle Stelson is raking in cash as she heads into a rematch with incumbent Republican Scott Perry in a Pa. swing district that could determine control of the House.
Democrat Janelle Stelson outraised U.S. Rep. Scott Perry for the second quarter in a row in her bid to flip the Central Pennsylvania district, which could determine control of the House in November.
Stelson, who lost by a little more than 1 point to Perry in 2024, has raised more than $2.2 million since launching her rematch campaign in July. She’s outraised Perry in both quarters since her kickoff and has more cash on hand than the incumbent Republican when taking his campaign debt into consideration.
Perry, a close ally to President Donald Trump, appears to be in the toughest fight of his political career. The seven-term lawmaker continued to be a Trump loyalist even as other swing district Republicans in the state increasingly look to distance themselves from the president.
Stelson’s strong fundraising haul indicates Democrats think they can finally flip the seat this year in a more favorable environment after Stelson came close in 2024 even though Trump carried the state and led a red wave.
Stelson, a former TV anchor and former Republican, has again rooted her campaign in attacks on Perry and Trump. She thinks it’ll work this time.
“I think the story of Scott Perry just keeps getting worse,” Stelson, 65, said in an interview. “He’s somebody who I covered for years on the news, and people have just really had enough. After more than a decade in Washington, he’s caused a lot of problems.”
Perry, 63, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, voted last month against a Democratic-led bill to restore recently expired healthcare subsidies amid a national spike in insurance premiums, a vote Stelson has seized upon. Three other Pennsylvania Republicans who represent swing districts – U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, and Ryan Mackenzie – voted for the measure.
Stelson still needs to win the Democratic primary in May to set up the November rematch. She’s facing Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas, a progressive pastor who has raised under $85,000 this year. Perry also has his first primary challenge from Karen Dalton, a retired attorney for Harrisburg Republicans who reported raising a little more than $11,000 since launching her campaign.
Perry raised more than $2.9 million in 2025, and Stelson raised $2.2 million since she launched in July. Stelson raised more than $946,000 from October through December, beating Perry’s haul for the quarter of $780,031.
Stelson ended the year with $1.52 million cash on hand, while Perry had $1.66 million. But Perry’s campaign also has nearly $280,000 in debt, which would put Stelson ahead when factored into the totals.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rated the district as a toss-up alongside Mackenzie’s Lehigh Valley district, marking them as among the most competitive races in the country.
Perry’s campaign spokesperson Matt Beynon said Perry’s fundraising last quarter was “incredibly strong,” and pointed to how he outraised fellow swing district Republicans Bresnahan and Mackenzie during that stretch of time.
Beynon said Perry is in a better position to ward off a Democratic challenge this year because his district has emerged as a priority for national Republicans, landing on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Patriots Program – a list of priority races that he wasn’t on in 2024.
“Seeing the results last go around, and seeing how hard we fought to make sure that the Congressman was reelected, I think did open some eyes, and the Congressman has been able to make the case that he needs support too,” Beynon said in an interview.
He said it’s been “a learning experience for folks to understand” that the district has become increasingly blue in recent years. The 10th Congressional District includes Dauphin County and parts of York and Cumberland Counties, and is home to Harrisburg and Hershey.
Perry declined to be interviewed for this article.
Stelson said Republican voters in the district who have historically voted party lines are “really waking up” and are beginning to view Perry as more of an “extremist” than a Republican.
She criticized Perry for urging his colleagues to throw out Pennsylvania’s votes hours after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. She also pointed to his vote against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Capitol Police officers, as well as his support for Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which made cuts to Medicaid and SNAP in order to help fund Trump’s tax cuts and immigration crackdown.
“He’s always putting his far-right politics ahead of the needs of people in this area,” Stelson said. “They can’t pay their bills … His defeat actually would be a defeat for extremism in our politics.”
Democrats are optimistic that having Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won the district in 2022, at the top of the ticket will boost Stelson’s chances and build on last year’s momentum in local races.
Perry’s campaign has called Stelson a “carpetbagger,” since she lived outside district lines in nearby Lancaster last time she ran. Stelson has argued that she knows the district well because of her decades-long career as a local journalist, and that she used to live in it.
Stelson’s campaign spokesperson Alma Baker confirmed Stelson now rents a home in the district in Camp Hill while still owning her Lancaster residence, noting she lives in-district full-time.
Stelson pointed to what she described as “national problems” when asked about unique issues in the district, such as the economy. Her campaign soon after unveiled an agenda aimed at supporting farmers and other rural residents.
Beynon said that Perry will speak about his support for provisions in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act like ending tax on tips and extending tax benefits for overtime. He will also point to his long-held position sponsoring a bill to ban stock trading in Congress, which he has collaborated with Democrats on.
Both candidates plan to talk about affordability, which has emerged as a successful message for both sides of the aisle.
“It’s just getting worse when you have to worry about whether you’re going to put groceries on the table or pay your skyrocketing utility premiums, that’s a real problem,” Stelson said. “You can’t send kids to school without something in their tummies, otherwise they’re going to be thinking about that all day instead of learning.”
As a broadcast journalist for decades, the second-time candidate said she listened to and highlighted concerns from people in the district.
“And I feel like now they can teach me what I need to be doing in Congress when I carry their voices there,” she added.