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Scott Perry and Janelle Stelson Debate Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District
The Spark covers the Pennsylvania 10th Congressional District race between Republican Rep. Scott Perry and Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson.
Updated Oct 16, 2026, 2:28 PM ET
Janelle Stelson, a Democrat and former WGAL-TV news anchor who narrowly lost to Scott Perry in 2024, is again her party's nominee for Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district in 2026 against the Republican incumbent.
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Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Janelle Stelson.
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Recent media coverage for Janelle Stelson.
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Watch the PA-10 Debate: Scott Perry v. Janelle Stelson
PoliticsPA presents coverage of the PA-10 congressional debate between incumbent Rep. Scott Perry and challenger Janelle Stelson.
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Perry and Stelson trade insults and accusations in fiery 10th District debate
Janelle Stelson, the Democratic challenger in Pennsylvania’s 10th District, faced off against incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Perry in a fiery ABC27 televised debate.
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Perry and Stelson Face Off in 2024 Rematch: IJR News
Janelle Stelson, the Democratic challenger in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, faced Republican incumbent Scott Perry in a high-profile 2024 rematch.
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Fact-checking the Congressional debate between Scott Perry and Janelle Stelson
The Fox43 piece covers the 10th Congressional District debate in Pennsylvania between Republican Rep. Scott Perry and Democratic challenger Janelle Stelson.
No story this week names this candidate.
- Born
- May 27, 1960
- Birthplace
- Fairbanks, Alaska
- Education
- University of Puget Sound (Bachelor of Arts in politics and government)
Austro-American Institute
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Janelle Stelson was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1960 and was raised in Seattle with three younger sisters. Her father was a state trooper and teacher, and her mother worked as a receptionist at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics and government from the University of Puget Sound and also studied international politics and German at the Austro-American Institute in Vienna, Austria. She is a long-time resident of Lancaster County.
Career
After college, Stelson worked as a speechwriter at the Embassy of Egypt in Washington, D.C., before joining WHTM-TV in Harrisburg as a general assignment reporter and weather anchor.
In 1985 she joined WPLG-TV in Miami, and she later returned to Pennsylvania to anchor evening newscasts at WHP-TV in Harrisburg. In 1997 she joined WGAL-TV in Lancaster, where she co-anchored evening newscasts for 26 years and won Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards in 2016 and 2023.
She announced her departure from the station on September 14, 2023.
Stelson changed her party registration from Republican in February 2023 and ran for Congress in 2024 as a Democrat in the 10th district on a centrist platform. She defeated five other candidates in the Democratic primary and lost the general election to incumbent Republican Scott Perry by about 5,000 votes.
2026 race
Janelle Stelson announced a second campaign for Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district in July 2025, and the following month she changed her voter registration to a Cumberland County address within the district.
The district is based in the Harrisburg and York areas, and its incumbent, Republican Scott Perry, was reelected with 50.6% of the vote in 2024. Stelson defeated Dauphin County commissioner Justin Douglas in the Democratic primary with 67.4% of the vote, and Douglas later endorsed her.
She faces Perry in a rematch in the general election on November 3, 2026.