The Atlantic: “Scott Perry of Pennsylvania is the nation’s most vulnerable MAGA Republican.”

The Atlantic : "They're running a candidate, the former local-news anchor Janelle Stelson, who can match both his regional fame and his fundraising."

In case you missed it, this morning The Atlantic published a profile of the increasingly competitive race in PA-10, methodically running through Scott Perry's broken promises and contrasting it with Janelle Stelson's powerhouse campaign that has Perry "on the brink."

DCCC Spokesperson Aidan Johnson:
"The only things Scott Perry has to show for his decades-long career in politics are trails of chaos and extremism. Janelle Stelson is ready to bring back reasonable governance and bipartisanship to Central Pennsylvania, and she has Democrats, Republicans, and Independents lining up behind her campaign to get the job done."

Read some highlights below.

The Atlantic: A Trump Loyalist on the Brink
Russell Berman | October 16, 2024

"For Perry, what's changed this year is Stelson, whose decades on television in the Harrisburg market have made her a local celebrity and the most formidable challenger he has faced."

"I followed her as she canvassed a mostly Republican neighborhood that has been shifting left. People greeted her with the slightly startled look of finding a TV star at their doorstep. 'Oh my goodness, Janelle Stelson,' Jeff White, a 66-year-old retired welder, told her. 'You look even prettier in person than you do in the news.' Another man didn't even wait for a knock on the door. He called out to her on the street, "Janelle, I'm voting for you!'"

"Stelson relishes these encounters. She tends to deviate from the list of houses that her campaign prepares for her, in search of harder targets. 'My favorite words in the English language are I'm a Republican, and I'm voting for you,' she told me with a laugh."

"Stelson says she decided to run after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. She recalls being on air when the ruling came down, trying to keep her composure while describing the jubilant reactions of Republicans, particularly Perry."

"In an indication that Republicans are worried about Perry, the House GOP's main super PAC began airing ads in his district."

On Perry's deeply unpopular record:

"Abortion became a driving issue for Stelson's campaign, and Perry has struggled to articulate a consistent position."

"When I asked him whether he'd support a federal abortion ban with the exceptions he's laid out, he said, 'We don't need to have that.' But he wouldn't rule out voting for one if it came to the House floor: 'I'm not going to get into hypotheticals.'"

"Perry is also elusive on a question that's tripped up other Trump loyalists, most recently the vice-presidential nominee J. D. Vance: Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election?"

"Whether Perry agrees with it or not, the 'narrative' about his role ahead of the January 6 assault on the Capitol is part of why he's the most vulnerable Trump loyalist in the House."

"For much of the campaign, Stelson has criticized Perry for opposing abortion rights and for his role leading up to January 6, but in the closing weeks, she is focusing just as much on casting him as a cause of Washington's dysfunction."

"The House Republican majority, distracted by leadership battles, has been historically unproductive, and Perry is often in the middle of the party's infighting. Even when Congress has managed to enact significant legislation, Stelson points out, Perry has usually tried to stop it."

"For Perry, in other words, the bad parts of legislation too often outweigh the good. His trouble is that, come November, voters in his district might make the same judgment about him."

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