Janelle Stelson

Janelle Stelson is the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District, running for a second consecutive cycle against Republican incumbent Scott Perry after losing by just 5,133 votes in 2024. She won her 2026 primary decisively, defeating Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas 69% to 31%, and has out-raised Perry, bringing in $4.7 million during the primary alone to his $4.4 million.

Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, and raised in the Seattle area, Stelson earned a degree in politics and government from the University of Puget Sound and studied at the Austro-American Institute in Vienna. Her first job was writing speeches for the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C., before she began a broadcast journalism career that spanned decades, including 26 years as a news anchor at WGAL-TV in Harrisburg, anchoring the highest-rated news show in the market, and earlier work at WHTM-TV. Her reporting took her from local Pennsylvania communities to Kosovo and to New York City in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and she was repeatedly named the market's "Best News Anchor." A longtime registered Republican, she changed her party registration before launching her first congressional campaign in 2023.

Stelson has described her father, a public school teacher and coach who worked a summer job moving furniture to support his four daughters, as an influence on her focus on education and working families. She has been endorsed by Governor Josh Shapiro, the Dauphin County Democratic Party, and several labor unions.

Janelle Stelson has pledged to fight for:

• Lowering the cost of living, including groceries, gas, housing, and prescription drugs
• Expanding access to affordable, timely healthcare and letting the government negotiate drug prices
• Reforming Congress, including banning stock trading by members and their families, banning members from becoming lobbyists, and instituting a 12-year House term limit
• Raising wages and expanding vocational and technical training for good-paying jobs
• Supporting small businesses through easier access to SBA loans and health coverage for employees
• Investing in rural communities and family farms, including a new 5-year Farm Bill and right-to-repair protections for farm equipment
• Honoring veterans by expanding VA benefits and healthcare access
• Pursuing bipartisan immigration reform, including secure-border technology and ICE accountability
• Restoring the protections of Roe v. Wade
• Supporting educators and school staff with better pay and respect

Stelson has framed her candidacy around her decades of experience listening to Central Pennsylvanians as a journalist, positioning herself as a pragmatic, non-partisan alternative to a career politician.