The TV anchor who might challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Perry is leaving her job this week
Janelle Stelson, the central Pennsylvania news anchor rumored to be considering a run against U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, is leaving her station to "pursue other interests."
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The 2024 Democratic primary for central Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District, held by Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, may soon add a fourth candidate with a very familiar face.
Clout told you two weeks ago that Janelle Stelson, a news anchor at NBC affiliate WGAL in Lancaster, was rumored to be considering a challenge against Perry.
WGAL News Director Kristen Kay, in an email to the station’s staff Wednesday afternoon obtained by Clout, announced that Stelson “has decided to step away from news and pursue other interests.”
Stelson, Kay added, will end her 26 years at the station Friday after viewers hear about her departure during Thursday’s 5 p.m. newscast.
Kay and Stelson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Stelson played it coy when Clout asked two weeks ago if she was mulling a run, emailing, “In the past more than three decades that I’ve been a journalist in Central PA, I’ve had quite a few people ask if I would be interested in running for office … so I’m not surprised you would hear something like that.”
Stelson lives in Lancaster, which is part of the 11th Congressional District. Members of Congress must be a resident of the state where their district is located but are not required to live in that district.
WGAL’s market covers 10 counties, including all of the 10th District, made up of Dauphin County and parts of Cumberland and York Counties.
Rumors about Stelson running for the U.S. House have been circulating for months. And someone privately registered two websites in June — StelsonForCongress.com and JanelleStelson.com.
Perry, running for a seventh term from his York County base, is an ally of former President Donald Trump and chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans.
Mike O’Brien, who retired this month as a U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, last week announced his run in the Democratic primary for the 10th District.
Two other candidates had already declared — Shamaine Daniels, a Harrisburg City Council member who lost to Perry in 2022′s general election, and Rick Coplen, who lost last year’s Democratic primary to Daniels.
Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.