GOP’s Perry Faces Rematch in House Race in Pennsylvania

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., is facing a formidable return challenger in former TV news anchor Janelle Stelson for the 2026 midterm elections.

Stelson, a Democrat, who lost to the Pennsylvania congressman last November in the 10th Congressional District by 1.2 percentage points, announced her bid to run again on Monday.

If past is prelude, the race is shaping up to be another potential nail-biter. Stelson lost by just 5,133 votes out of nearly 407,000 votes cast in a swing state that Donald Trump won in last year’s presidential election.

Republicans across the country in 2026 will likely face the typical headwinds of being the party in power in an off-year election cycle. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which seeks to elect House Democrats, has also been raking in the cash. The group took an early lead against its Republican counterpart in fundraising numbers reported on in May. 

Stelson has already received an endorsement from Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and is set to kick off her campaign this week with a joint event with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, both fellow Democrats.

Stelson is a former news anchor, having helmed newscasts on WGAL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is a Keystone State transplant, having been born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and raised in the Seattle region of Washington state. She holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and government from the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington. Her self-described first job was as a speechwriter at the Embassy of Egypt in Washington, D.C. 

Janelle Stelson, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, campaigns in Harrisburg, Pa., on Oct. 19. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)

Perry, by contrast, grew up in the Keystone State and is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University as well as of the U.S. Army War College. He served for decades in the Army, retiring as a brigadier general in 2019 and with dozens of combat missions under his belt. Perry was a member of the Pennsylvania state House from 2007 to 2012. He was first elected to Congress in 2012 and served as chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus for two years beginning in 2022. 

“Some things never change. Janelle Stelson’s still a carpetbagger who can’t vote for herself. Janelle Stelson’s still a racist who refused to apologize for disparaging Asian Americans,” a spokesman for Perry’s campaign told The Daily Signal.

Stelson came under fire during last year’s campaign for having remarked on television several years prior that Asians were “making tacos out of [cats].” The remark gained notoriety at the time of its airing drawing the attention of radio host Howard Stern.

“My comment was wrong, and I apologized for it at the time. I was on live TV for thousands of hours over 38 years and one inappropriate joke from a decade ago is the worst thing they can find?” Stelson said in April 2024 in response to the remark resurfacing.

“Janelle Stelson still supports raising the taxes of hardworking south-central Pennsylvanians by more than $2,000. And Janelle Stelson will lose again because the voters of the 10^th Congressional District know they have a leader in Scott Perry fighting for them,” the spokesman added.

The Stelson campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District includes the state’s capital city of Harrisburg.

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