“Obviously, it’s close.”
With less than two weeks before Election Day, Rep. Scott Perry (R-10) says that his contest in the 10th Congressional District with Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson will come right down to the wire but not because of the electorate.
No, it’s because of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The 10th District was R+12 prior to the most recent redistricting in 2022. Now, it favors Republicans by just three points, according to Perry.
“It was changed, in my opinion, unconstitutionally by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court when the maps were redrawn,” he said earlier today to Breitbart Daily. “They didn’t like the map, which is their prerogative. They should have sent it back to the legislature, but it’s a heavily, heavily left-leaning socialist Supreme Court. So they just drew the map themselves, and who’s there to question them?”
The six-term representative continued to rant against the seven-member high court which has a 5-2 Democratic majority.
“This is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and so they, you know, they changed it from an R+12 to an R+3, and they’ve been pumping money into it in craziness ever since then,” said Perry, estimating it at $25 million. “And of course, this cycle is no different. A record amount of money.
“We’re, you know, hardworking, just taxpaying regular people that, you know, go to you know fill a lunchbox and go to work every morning. We’re not used to 25 million dollars in craziness raining down on us. They’ve been running ads against me nonstop since my last election, and, you know, they say anything. They’re allowed to literally say anything they want to without any justification and… any factual reference, and that’s what they’ve been doing,” he explained.”
Perry, who defeated Stelson by just over 5,100 votes in the last cycle, admitted that the race is closer than he likes.
“So obviously, it’s close. People see the news,” he said. “They see the commercials for two years straight, and they’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ You know, people don’t — people don’t watch the bills in Washington that closely, right? And so, when you can characterize them any way you want to, people are unsure, so people have questions.”
But Perry feels confident that voters in PA-10 will come around and send him back to Washington.
“But I think you know, in a few days, a week and a half, people are going to be like, ‘Wait a minute! I’m not voting for crazy,” Perry said. “This other party wants to raise my taxes. They said so. They want to close our prisons and release the prisoners. They want to shut down our local police. They want to have drag queen story hour in my local library with my kids in there, and they want to open the border. I’m not for any of that. Why would I vote for that? And so, maybe I’m not sure about this guy based on all the two years of negative advertising. But I’m not going to do — you know, I’m not going to vote for insanity over normal.”
President Donald Trump carried the district by five points over former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 which is in line with the +6 voter registration advantage held by Republicans in the state’s Capital Region of Cumberland, Dauphin and York Counties.
But Democrats made some headway locally in the 2025 election cycle, particularly in Cumberland County, allowing the party to see a pathway to upending Perry this time around.
Perry, who has served in Washington since 2013, has come under scrutiny over the past week for unsubstantiated claims in his ads against Stelson.
He lashed out at a PennLive reporter on Friday for asking if Perry had actually viewed a purported nude photo of his opponent before making a campaign ad about it.
He declined to confirm or deny that he had verified the photo’s existence, noting “Your publication is full of lies and garbage and propaganda, and I’m not going to be involved in it,” as he walked out of the Country Club of Harrisburg.
“This false accusation is a pathetic, desperate attempt by Scott Perry to rescue his failing campaign, with easily disproven lies,” said Stelson campaign manager Alma Baker. “Janelle Stelson was proud to be the lead anchor on the area’s highest-rated news station for years. Unfortunately, as a woman on television, Janelle has been a victim of stalking and harassment before. Now she is a victim of Perry’s supporters making up totally unsubstantiated claims to smear her reputation. We knew that Scott Perry would do anything to hold onto political power, including his role to overturn the 2020 election and negate all our votes, but now we’ve seen a new low. We are confident Central Pennsylvania voters will recognize these lies for what they are: a political hit piece by a desperate career politician.”
The Stelson campaign is still weighing its options as to possible legal action.
