HARRISBURG — Ahead of the Nov. 3 election, voters in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District have identified the government and politicians as two of the most important problems facing the state.
The district is represented by Republican Scott Perry, who will face Democratic candidate Janelle Stelson, a former TV news anchor, this fall. It’s one of three toss-up U.S. House races in Pennsylvania identified by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
The purple district covers the entirety of Dauphin County, including Harrisburg, in addition to portions of Cumberland and York Counties.
Members of Congress, elected for two-year terms, control federal taxes and spending, as well as develop and vote on legislation, including anti-corruption laws. They also investigate government agencies, programs, and officials.
While campaign finance reform is a key issue of Stelson’s platform, Perry opposes capping political donations. They align most on anti-corruption issues, both favoring banning stock trading and imposing term limits for members of Congress.
Stelson has highlighted Perry’s role in helping President Donald Trump plan how to stay in office after his 2020 defeat, an effort that culminated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Her platform includes support for limiting a president’s pardon power and improving systems for investigating alleged wrongdoing by elected officials. Perry has not taken a public stance on those issues, and his campaign did not answer questions about his positions.
Below, we break down the two major party candidates’ positions on these issues ahead of the Nov. 3 election. You can learn more about their positions during an ABC27 debate scheduled for 8 p.m. on Oct. 14.
Campaign finance reform
Stelson favors strengthening the Federal Election Commission, an independent regulatory agency that oversees voting, “so it has more power to hold candidates and public officials who break campaign finance laws accountable,” according to her “Fighting Washington Corruption Priorities” plan.
Stelson also wants Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, a controversial 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down prohibitions on corporate and labor union spending on elections.
In the ruling, former Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that restrictions on independent spending by corporations and other outside groups limit their speech, and violate the First Amendment, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Lower courts, in applying the ruling, extended it to lift restrictions on almost all fundraising and spending by groups that claim to be separate from candidates, many known as “super PACs.”
In the years since the decision, election spending has reached “unprecedented heights,” according to a 2025 report from OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks and analyzes money in U.S. politics. Outside spending in the 2008 election cycle totaled $574 million. In 2024, outside spending came close to $4.5 billion — and most of that money was spent by super PACs.
Super PACS regularly accept money from 501(c)(4) groups, which aren’t required to disclose their donors. “Those 501(c)(4) groups that decline to reveal their donors are known as ‘dark money’ groups,” per OpenSecrets, “and when they provide funding to super PACs, they hide the identity of super PAC donors.”
In her plan, Stelson says she wants to “stop dark money groups from spending unlimited and untraceable money in campaigns.”
Perry’s campaign website does not include campaign finance in his platform, but he said in a statement to Spotlight PA that “my belief in the Constitutional right to free speech includes political speech through support for candidates — regardless of which party you support — which is also why I support the Citizens United decision and oppose capping political donations."
In 2019, Perry voted against the For the People Act, which would have required dark money groups to disclose some donors. It also would have made major changes to voting, including requiring states to offer same-day registration for federal elections. It passed the House, but died in the Senate.
In a news release following the vote, Perry said the bill would infringe on the First Amendment: “This bill encourages the suppression of free speech and creates a chilling effect by effectively boxing out people from public discourse if they support either partisan or unpopular speech.” He also noted the ACLU’s opposition to the disclosure requirement.
In 2021, the For the People Act was reintroduced with identical language about setting campaign fundraising and spending limits for elections. Perry voted against it again. It passed the House along party lines, but died in the Senate.
Stock trading ban
Congressional stock trading has become a major talking point ahead of the election. House members, who have access to information the public doesn’t, are allowed to buy and sell stocks, but must disclose trades of more than $1,000 within 30 days.
As of mid-December, members had made 13,324 trades totaling $635.57 million in 2025, according to nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause.
Both Perry and Stelson support banning members of Congress from trading stocks.
In July, Perry voted in favor of the Stop Insider Trading Act. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil (R., Wis.), it would prohibit members of Congress, their spouses, and dependent children from purchasing stocks, in addition to requiring public notice before they sell stocks. Perry is also one of the 93 co-sponsors of the legislation.
“Members of Congress need to make decisions for the public good, not their own financial gain. For far too long, too many Members have profited from having inside information,” Perry said in a news release following the vote.
Perry has never owned stocks, according to the release.
While the House approved the legislation by a Republican majority in the 232-198 vote, many Democrats voted against the bill due to provisions that would exempt the president from the trading ban and include a photo ID requirement for voters in federal elections.
The measure failed in the Senate on Sept. 30 after every Democratic and independent senator voted against it.
Stelson has proposed banning members from trading individual stocks, as well as “buying, selling, or exchanging prediction market contracts tied to government policy, government action, or political outcomes.”
“I sold my individual stocks prior to running and will not own or trade individual stocks when in office,” Stelson says in her plan. “If you are elected to serve, you should not be allowed to profit from insider information.”
When it comes to prediction markets, Stelson says that “public officials should never be able to make money by wagering on the very decisions they influence or the political outcomes they help shape.”
Asked if insider trading on prediction markets needs to be checked through legislation during a September interview with City & State PA, Perry said, “We’re probably going to have to address those issues in the same way that we considered insider trading and the stock ban for members of the legislature.”
Prediction markets, like Polymarket and Kalshi, allow users to buy and sell binary event contracts on the outcome of future events, including elections. Over the past several months, U.S. Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, opened an investigation into what several platforms are doing to root out insider trading.
Ban on lobbying
Stelson supports a lifetime ban on members becoming lobbyists after serving in the House. “If you want to get a job with a lobbying firm that's asking you to vote for or against a bill, that’s a recipe for bad decisions,” she has said. “Former politicians should not be able to cash in on their previous positions and votes. I support a lifetime ban.”
A spokesperson for Perry did not respond to a question about the representative’s position.
Currently, members of Congress are banned from lobbying for one year after leaving office.
Term limits
Imposing term limits on members of Congress is a point of agreement between the campaigns. Currently, there is no limit on the number of terms a member of Congress can serve.
In 2020, Perry signed the U.S. Term Limits Constitutional Amendment Pledge, agreeing to co-sponsor and vote for an amendment that would limit House members to three terms.
During a 2024 debate with Stelson, Perry said he “supports a three-term limit for members of Congress, even if it means forcing himself out of office.” He is currently running for his eighth term.
Stelson said during that same 2024 debate that she favored a 12-year term limit for members of Congress, and she would limit herself if elected. On her campaign website, Stelson says she still favors a 12-year term limit, and she would not serve more than 12 years even if no term limits are imposed.
A joint resolution introduced in January by U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R., SC) would amend the Constitution to create a three-term limit for members of Congress, and Perry is listed as a co-sponsor.
Investigating alleged wrongdoing by elected officials
Stelson has repeatedly highlighted Perry’s connection to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, calling him “one of the architects of January 6, so deeply involved in the deadly insurrection,” and folding that message into a larger argument for upholding democracy amid Republican extremism.
Congressional investigators say Perry spoke repeatedly to Trump’s then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about contesting the 2020 election results. Perry also introduced Trump to Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department lawyer “who was willing to act on Trump's baseless claims of election fraud and requests for help in overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election,” News Hour reported. Trump considered making Clark acting attorney general.
The FBI seized Perry’s cell phone in 2022, and he sued the Justice Department, arguing his communications fell under the Constitution's “speech or debate” clause. Perry also refused to honor a subpoena to testify before a special House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, calling it a “kangaroo court.”
As of 2026, no criminal charges have been brought, and no sanctions have been filed against him by the House ethics committee.
Stelson supports a constitutional amendment to end or significantly curb the president’s pardoning power, citing in her plan instances of controversial pardons made by former presidents, as well as Trump.
In December, U.S. Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D., Md.) introduced the Pardon Integrity Act, a joint resolution that would establish new checks on presidential pardon authority after Trump pardoned five former NFL players who had charges including perjury and drug trafficking.
“The Constitution does not give any president the authority to place themselves above the law,” Olszewski said in a news release. He added: “When the pardon power is abused to protect criminals and political allies, Congress has a responsibility to act.”
Stelson also wants to create a “truly independent Congressional Ethics Agency … so members of Congress no longer regulate themselves.”
Currently, the House Committee on Ethics, a bipartisan group made up of members of Congress, provides ethics training and investigates and reviews members’ financial disclosures. The Office of Congressional Conduct investigates allegations and can refer them to the House Committee on Ethics. While the office’s website says members of the six-person board are private citizens and cannot serve as members of Congress or work for the federal government, they all have previously held positions as members or clerks in the House.
Stelson also wants to “reconstitute the FBI’s public corruption unit” as well as “fully fund the Justice Department’s public integrity unit,” according to her plan.
In March of 2025, the Justice Department section that handles public corruption cases was downsized. Then, that May, the FBI Washington Field Office closed its federal public corruption squad, which handled investigations into members of Congress and fraud by federal employees.
Perry’s campaign did not respond to questions about his positions on these issues.
This story was updated to remove incorrect information from an ABC27 article.