A moderate Democrat with a war chest faces a progressive grassroots campaign in Pa.’s 10th District

By some measures, Perry is among the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the commonwealth. Cook Political Report ranks the 10th District as an even toss up in 2026, a slight shift to the left since the last election. 

But Perry’s also proved himself resilient.

When he was first elected to Congress in 2012, what was then the 4th District was safely conservative. But after court-ordered redistricting in 2018, Perry’s new 10th District became more competitive. Still, he’s held on to his seat.

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But broad disapproval of President Donald Trump’s administration, rising gas prices and demographic shifts in the 10th have Democrats hopeful they can finally flip it. The 10th contains some of the fastest growing regions of the commonwealth. Democrats hope the parts that are seeing an influx of new residents, such as the city of York, Camp Hill Borough and Cumberland County, will help them at the polls.

The Democratic primary is between former WGAL news anchor Janelle Stelson and Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas. The two candidates represent contrasting styles.

Both candidates spoke to the Capital-Star about their views and why they believe they’re the best-positioned to defeat Perry in November. Since Perry is running unopposed in the Republican primary, he was not interviewed for this story.

Stelson, broadly considered the frontrunner based on her 2024 showing, slew of endorsements and multi-million dollar fundraising, presents herself as a moderate who can win over conservatives and independents wary of some of Perry’s support of an unpopular president.

She hopes to hammer Perry, the former leader of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, on his recent support for enacting tariffs, cutting Medicaid subsidies, and military action in Iran even as gas prices skyrocket. And she wants to remind voters of his past positions she calls extreme, like a proposed national abortion ban and his role in supporting Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

“The story of Scott Perry just keeps getting worse,” she said. “We had January 6 before and a number of votes that hurt us, not help us. Then you had the Big Beautiful bill that is taking away healthcare coverage from millions of Americans, and Medicaid from 20,000 right here in central Pennsylvania.”

Roughly speaking, it’s a similar playbook as the one she ran two years ago. That year, Stelson beat out a crowded Democratic primary field, but ultimately lost to Perry by a little over a single percent of the vote. But even in a year Republicans trounced Democrats on ballots across the commonwealth, she came closer to ousting Perry than any candidate since he first entered Congress, outperforming Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in her district.

Her endorsements show her institutional support. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Dauphin County Democratic Committee, elected officials across the district, and a number of prominent unions have all backed her campaign.

Douglas, on the other hand, positions himself as a progressive with experience taking on well-heeled candidates and winning historically conservative seats. A former pastor, his surprise victory in a Dauphin County commissioner race in 2023 flipped the control of the County government to majority-Democratic for the first time in more than a century.

It’s a race Douglas draws parallels to when discussing the current primary. 

“I was out-fundraised, I was overlooked and I was discounted,” he said. “And by out-fundraised, I mean out-fundraised by like 25-to-one … It’s very familiar territory for me to be the underdog again.”

Stelson has proven herself to be one of the most formidable fundraisers of any congressional candidate in Pennsylvania, amassing nearly $4.7 million to date compared to Douglas’ roughly $140,000.

While Stelson has a fistful of key party endorsements, Douglas has endorsements from organizations representing groups of voters that have long been considered a core part of the Democratic base. 

CASA In Action, an immigrants rights organization; One Pennsylvania, representing working class Black families; and the Asian Pacific Islanders Political Alliance are backing Douglas, who has made opposing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a key part of his platform and has a record of advocating for immigrants’ rights as a Dauphin County Commissioner.

Douglas is also hoping to capture voters’ frustration with the status quo in the Democratic Party, especially as Stelson largely refuses to acknowledge his campaign and has declined multiple opportunities to debate him.

He’s repeatedly criticized this decision, accusing Stelson of denying voters the chance to get to know and contrast their candidates’ positions.

Stelson brushed aside the criticism when asked about it.

“When you talk about the current primary, we’re really excited to get past it and take on Scott Perry,” she said. “We’ve been all over the district talking to everybody. I don’t think anybody is not clear on the kinds of things that I stand for.”

SUBHED: Where they stand

On the issues, the candidates overlap in a number of areas.

Both have called for reforms in Congress, including a ban on congressional stock trading, the institution of term limits, and closing the so-called “revolving door,” where government employees and elected officials leave public service for lobbying jobs and vice versa.

But there are also key differences.

Support for Israel

In 2024, Stelson told Jewish Insider that she agreed “absolutely with Israel’s right to root out Hamas and decimate [it].”

Asked where she stands now, Stelson reaffirmed her support for Israel, but clarified that was not the same as support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She also called for the United States to play a bigger role in mediating with and supplying aid to Gaza.

“I think what’s going on breaks everybody’s hearts when you see the video of the things that have happened,” she said. “These are things I’d really like to see the United States take not just a mediator role, but help people get back on their feet. I think it’s important we keep our eyes on a two-state solution too.”

Asked if she would support continued weapons sales to Israel, she equivocated.

“It’s not what I think about these things, it’s what everybody here thinks about things,” Stelson said. “We have situations on both sides where people feel very strongly, and I’m looking forward to listening to them and pivoting to whatever the district thinks we need to be doing.”

Douglas, meanwhile, accused Israel of committing “blatant war crimes” since the onset of the war with Hamas in 2023.

He also recalled a 2019 trip he took to the West Bank where he said he saw “homes that were bulldozed,” “land seized that was Palestinian land,” and “settlements that were illegal.”

“If our allies are committing human rights violations and war crimes, I think it’s incumbent on us to reconsider that relationship,” he said. “I would personally be for [selling Israel] defensive weaponry only until we can reestablish that trust.”

War in Iran

Both Douglas and Stelson opposed the current war in Iran, and criticized the Trump administration for entering it without consulting Congress.

Ultimately, neither ruled out the possibility of supporting the use of force in the future if it could be proven that Iran was close to obtaining a nuclear weapon. But, both said the Trump administration failed to convincingly prove that’s currently the case.

“There are a lot of people in charge of a lot of countries who don’t conduct themselves the way America thinks they should,” Stelson said. “I just don’t think we should be hopping around the world warring with all those countries. I disagree with this war vehemently.”

Tariffs, taxes and affordability

When it comes to tax policies, both agree wealthy Americans aren’t paying their fair share, but have expressed different views on how to tackle the issue.

Stelson did not discuss specific tax policies with the Capital-Star, but her campaign platform calls for tax breaks for the working-class, and criticizes what she calls “tax breaks for the wealthy.” That’s in reference to provisions in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill expected to primarily benefit wealthy Americans, such as reduced estate and corporate taxes.

“I support tax breaks for the hard working middle class, not billionaires,” her platform says.

She added in a 10-minute interview that she would like one of her first actions in Congress to be a vote to repeal the Trump administration’s tariffs, citing the harm they’ve done to small businesses and farmers.

Douglas, meanwhile, has not called for a full repeal of all tariffs, but for “rebalancing trade and tariff policies to protect American workers while strengthening strategic alliances and avoiding unnecessary economic retaliation,” according to his policy platform.

He also told the Capital-Star he supports a larger overhaul of the U.S. tax code, with a focus on closing loopholes that allow some of the wealthiest Americans to dodge income taxes. 

There’s a number of options, but in the end, if you’re a business like Amazon or Tesla, or any other business I can name … They should be paying, and their CEOs especially should be paying, for the reality of what they experienced to get to this point,” he said. 

Douglas also called for new tax credits for “small, main street” businesses. He said he would support the PRO Act, a piece of legislation expanding protections for unions, and raising the minimum wage.

Healthcare

On the subject of healthcare, Stelson criticized Perry’s vote to repeal American Care Act subsidies, and changes to Medicaid in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill that will make it harder for some to receive benefits.

Douglas, meanwhile, called for “Medicare for all” and “remov[ing] the profit motive” from the health insurance system.

Immigration

The candidates also differ in how they talk about immigration.

Douglas has made it a centerpiece of his campaign. He said witnessing the realities of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants is largely what motivated him to enter the race.

In 2025, he became one of the most vocal advocates among elected officials for central Pennsylvania’s Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community, many of whom came to the United States fleeing ethnic cleansing as part of a long-running refugee program. 

As the Trump administration ramped up deportations across the country, members of the community with criminal histories, including minor and nonviolent charges, were detained by ICE. More than a dozen who had been legal residents were deported back to Bhutan, where community leaders say they’ve faced expulsion by the government. 

In stump speeches, Douglas has recalled sitting with family members of Bhutanese residents who faced deportation back to a country they once fled. Douglas drove with them to a detention center in Pike County to ensure they’d get the chance to at least say goodbye.

“That was a real activating moment for me,” Douglas said. “Many individuals impacted by that asked me to consider running when it was clear no one else would be.”

While Douglas has acknowledged border security should remain a priority, he’s criticized Trump administration changes to immigration, refugee and asylum rules, which have resulted in the revocation of hundreds of thousands of people’s temporary protected status and made it harder for many to claim asylum in America.

He told the Capital-Star that it’s important for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that balances border security while continuing to allow valid asylum seekers to enter. 

“I love what James Talarico says,” Douglas said of the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Texas. “America should have a welcome mat and a lock on the door. And that doesn’t mean there’s not a key or a way for you to knock and get in.”

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Stelson, for her part, has openly criticized the Democratic Party for what she sees as failures to enact strong immigration policy. In the 2024 race, she criticized the Biden administration for not doing enough to secure the border, and criticized Republicans for obstructing attempts to pass comprehensive legislation to do so.

“We have a broken immigration system and both parties have botched the crisis for years,” Stelson’s platform reads. “I oppose open borders because it is unacceptable to allow criminals and life-stealing drugs across the border.”

Stelson’s platform also calls for “independent and thorough investigations into every killing involving ICE agents. ICE should also not be rewarded for arresting legal U.S. citizens. Due process and our laws must be followed. All federal law enforcement including ICE should wear uniforms with badges and should not wear masks.”