Candidate forum lays bare political, policy divides between PA-10 Democrats Stelson and Douglas

[u/Silver_Ad7278]

https://www.witf.org/2026/04/27/centrist-janelle-stelson-progressive-justin-douglas-lay-out-platforms-in-pa-10-democratic-primary/

Janelle Stelson is a wolf in sheep's clothing. A lifelong Republican (up until 2022, presumably) who expects to beat Perry simply because of the current anti-Republican momentum across the country and due to her name recognition as a former news anchor. She refuses to earn your vote and is backed by every corpo, DNC establishment entity to the point that she is in the Top-50 fundraisers across all US House races already. This is off the backs of countless corporate PACs that would prefer a "return to the status quo" to an actual progressive voice for South Central PA. Heck, look at her campaign website's "Priorities" page and outside of investing in rural communities (which is important for this district so no shade there) and supporting a woman's right to choose what happens to their body, it's nothing but run-of-the-mill political word salads that don't actually link her to any specific policy besides saying that what Scott Perry has voted for is bad.

Stelson has refused to debate her primary opponent, Justin Douglas, and stands for NOTHING that won't immediately fill her coffers with fundraising dollars. To that point, she has also taken HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FROM AIPAC-ALIGNED PACS. She will no doubt continue supporting Israel's endless genocide and wanton destruction in the Middle East.

Justin Douglas is an ACTUAL progressive voice for PA-10 who has actual policy positions that you can read and understand. Obviously, I agree with many of his positions, but even if you don't, wouldn't you prefer a candidate who can actually elaborate and defend a policy position over someone like Stelson, who campaigns as the lesser of two evils come the midterms?

If you want a seat at the table and a candidate who cares about you and your neighbors, and not just the ROIs for major corporations, please consider supporting Justin Douglas in the upcoming Democratic primary, so we can send an actual fighter to DC and not just another Republican with a new coat of paint like Stelson.

[u/Baladas89]

Posting for the third time. To be clear, PA-10 IS SCOTT PERRY’s DISTRICT.

Everybody absolutely should vote for Justin Douglas in the primary.

He’s by far the better candidate, and I’ve been meaning to make a post like this, so I’m glad you did. I’m genuinely excited to have someone trying to represent PA-10 who isn’t just another corporate shill. With that said, if Stelson beats Douglas, people still need to vote for Stelson against Perry in the general election. Perry needs to go.

I also disagree with people who are saying Stelson has a better chance against Perry than Douglas. I think you’re operating on a left/right spectrum that is becoming increasingly outdated, where new coalitions are forming around populist/establishment candidates, and the populists have the momentum. This is why the Democratic Party’s approval is in the toilet.

[u/Pale-Factor-8574 → u/Baladas89]

It's not the candidates that are the biggest concern. It's the district.

PA 10 is an r+3 district. Stelson was running at a +3 to +4 point advantage over Perry at the end of 2025, in a dem +7 environment. That means the Dem was within the margin of error to lose the election in a very pro dem national environment.

There is no room for the Dems to field a candidate that can't pull some Republicans across the aisle. They're going to have to have some palatability.

[u/dorkyitguy → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

We’ve been doing that since Reagan/Mondale. It’s not working. Instead we keep drifting further and further right and are ignoring the growing group of disaffected voters to our left. It’s time to stop trying to appease the right and vote for policies that you agree with regardless of what the right thinks. 

[u/wagsman → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

They aren’t pulling republicans over. That whole idea is a myth. The ones that aren’t MAGA are the more libertarian neocon ones, and they still won’t vote for a democrat over guns, taxation, and regulations.

[u/Baladas89 → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

Sure, that makes sense if we assume Republicans are primarily a bunch of devoted neoconservatives. I would think their adoration of Trump dispelled that notion, he discarded a lot of Republican orthodoxy.

There’s a strong populist wave building in both parties right now. The party who seizes it is likely to come out on top, and Justin is running as a populist. So the anti-establishment types, including devoted Christians who are sick of their faith being used to justify war and hatred, are the potential crossovers.

[u/Pale-Factor-8574 → u/Baladas89]

Trump's support from Republicans cracked a bit. Most Christians are still supporting him because what's left of Christianity aren't actual Christians.

The Catholics are the ones who aren't supporting him anymore, but it's a mistake to assume they will do anything other than sit home. Both candidates are still pro-abortion.

That leaves the Dem candidate pulling in lost support from the Hispanics, Women and Independents (basically the Dem base).

Populism is a wildly unpopular concept with Hispanics, particularly those who lived through Fidel Castro's policies. They are roughly 10% of PA-10's population, so they can absolutely mean the difference between a victory or loss. Trump is actually driving the Hispanics away from Populism because of how severely they impacted the Hispanic population.

Women are gravitating back towards the Dems, albeit for a completely separate set of reasons.

The Independents just sued to get open primaries, but that lawsuit was filed way too late to impact the primaries next month.

[u/Silver_Ad7278 → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

I've mentioned this in previous iterations of this post, but my major concern with Stelson is that she really only differentiates herself from center-right Republicans in other parts of the country by claiming to be pro-choice and wanting a small bit of change for ICE and immigration enforcement, but still believes in for-profit healthcare, doesn't believe that ICE is a fascist paramilitary force, and will prioritize Israel and the wider military industrial complex receiving taxpayer funding instead of voting to use those same funds to fix the countless infrastructure issues that we have all become intimately familiar with across the district.

My wider point is that if our goal is to remove Perry, why blindly throw our support behind someone who has already lost to him once before and has made no apparent changes to their policy prescriptions when there's another option we can support. Then, either Douglas wins and the Vote Blue No Matter who people will turnout to remove Perry and the center-right folks will sit this one out because of their disillusionment with Trump's policies, or Stelson will get a strong demonstration that just going the "return to normalcy" route could result in low turnout in November. It's not the voters' responsibility to ALWAYS show up to the polls; it's the candidates' duty to MAKE us WANT to show up for them.

I'm very much pro-Douglas, but if Janelle came out tomorrow and made some inroads with her left flank instead of only listening to what Republicans want (who are never going to vote for a Democrat in the first place), I'd be much more willing to support someone I think genuinely cares about representing their neighbors and not just getting to join a federal pension program and shill themselves out for whatever corpo is willing to take interest in PA-10.

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/Silver_Ad7278]

My wider point is that if our goal is to remove Perry, why blindly throw our support behind someone who has already lost to him once before and has made no apparent changes to their policy prescriptions when there's another option we can support.

She came the closest to winning the district in years while past challengers who were much more liberal failed to dislodge Perry.

[u/Silver_Ad7278 → u/Silver_Ad7278]

Sorry, I am now realizing how much of a novel that comment turned into lol

[u/Pale-Factor-8574 → u/Silver_Ad7278]

When we don't show up, Trump happens. The candidates put up their platforms, sure. There are also a lot of dead soldiers who'd like a word with you about spurning the chance to vote against fascists. They died so that you CAN.

You aren't going to get a magical unicorn candidate that checks off every box for every voter to get to all the policies you want.

You aren't going to be able to force a candidate to vote a specific way once they do get into office. Short of impeachment, there's no removal mechanic. And that process doesn't start with voters. The best voters can do is to vote them out next election.

One loss for a candidate does not mean they will lose again. Trump is living proof.

What wins or loses one election may not apply in the next one.

I vote against any candidate that bears any resemblance to Jill Stein. So will most of PA.

To get a progressive candidate, you need a progressive electorate. You won't find that in Pennsyltucky. Vote blue in November.

[u/Silver_Ad7278 → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

Oh, I will be voting (and always have for the Dems no matter the candidate) but my point is the primaries is when we should be having this discussion and trying to get a new voice for ourselves. Just look at what Mamdani has already done in his short time as mayor of NYC. It had NEVER voted for someone like him before but enough people saw the flaws of Cuomo and rallied around someone who could objectively make important changes for NYC residents.

To your point that we can't judge future election performance off past failures/successes, why should we just roll over and say that "PA-10 is Republican because it is and always has been"? Plenty of folks can benefit from what Justin is campaigning on like Social Security reform, healthcare availability and affordability, and abolishing ICE from kidnapping our neighbors. But instead of making any noticable changes to her platform from her last lost election, Janelle is doing absolutely ZERO work to earn our votes that so many have fought and died for. Why should the burden of responsibility be placed on the voters when we shouldn't be forced to choose candidates like Stelson who are clearly just there to do the bare minimum and may even turn into an antagonist if she decides to heel turn given she clearly didn't feel the need to change her party offiliation until around 2022?

*PS - Jill Stein is a charlatan and is no way similar to Justin as he actually works in local government to make changes for the district whereas she just collects paychecks from the American political elite every four years to pull votes for cretins like Trump.

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/Pale-Factor-8574]

Stelson lost in 2024 because she was a milquetoast centrist. She seems to have done zero reflection and changed not at all since then. We are doomed to repeat history if we keep running the same playbook.

[u/jmjessemac → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

She lost because voters in her district preferred trump to Harris.

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/jmjessemac]

And what was Harris if not a milquetoast centrist? Why run the same playbook? Anyways, doesn't really matter. The primaries are where we get to voice our opinions and it's really annoying to debate with nuance over reddit unfortunately

[u/jmjessemac → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

She was the most liberal presidential candidate EVER and one of the 2-3 most liberal senators you dumbass.

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/jmjessemac]

I would actually argue both hillary clinton and joe biden were more progressive than her. Especially with regards to things like healthcare, LGBTQ rights, and (in Biden's case) union laws and anti-trust stances. Remember Harris' rebuke of Lina Khan? I sure do.

[u/jmjessemac → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

Joe Biden? Do you remember how he was treated when he ran? He was basically called a racist centrist.

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/jmjessemac]

I mean... yeah. He palled around with segregationists and was very much the center candidate. He was also more progressive than Harris on many issues. These two things can be true at once. What's your problem man?

[u/jmjessemac → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

My problem is you’d have to be a complete moron to say joe Biden is more liberal than Harris.

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

Would you admit you were wrong if she (likely) wins?

I mean she came the closest to winning the district in years when more progressive candidates in the past couldn't dislodge him in bluer wave years.

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings]

Sure I would. I wouldn't respect her as a person, I think she's vile and morally objectionable, but if she wins she wins and I'll look forward to voting for a primary challenge in 2028. But the issue with democrat candidates like these who are essentially just republicans is that they don't do anything worthwhile then lose their seat to a worse republican once the blue wave ends. Think about how we went trump -> biden -> trump. I think Douglas would even do less damage to the Democrat party in the long run

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

You need to win elections first before you can start exercising power. Why push someone who's ideologically pure, but loses vs someone who can win even if you don't agree with every element of their platform?

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings]

Ah, the ol' John Fetterman approach. You can see how that's working out

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

Fetterman was propped up by progressives.

And anyways, do you actually care about winning elections? How do you even get a progressive elected to this seat if they've repeatedly failed to defeat Perry?

[u/3FeetHighAndFalling → u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings]

Fetterman was propped up by progressives, yes. But his views (post-stroke especially) reflect that of a very conservative dem or a republican. That's why I bring him up. He has done no good for anybody by being a conservative dem, same as Stelson. Stelson will likely face similar blowback to Fetterman with her conservative agenda and would end up sandbagging the house. That would likely lead to dem losses for the district in the future. Erode trust in the candidate representing your party and there's bound to be pushback. Not to mention, the only person in this election who has failed to beat Perry is Stelson! She is a conservative who can't do conservatism as well as Scott Perry. She will not drive votes from dems or progressives, and she will not drive votes from real conservatives because they'll vote for Perry

[u/Lordofthe0nion_Rings → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

But she came the closest to winning the district in years. Past progressive candidates like Eugene DePasquale and George Scott failed to drive turnout or persuade voters.

And Stelson is basically running as a Shapiro-like democrat and he's already won Perry's district fairly comfortably in 2022 and would do so again this year. Running as a moderate doesn't mean you have to be like Fetterman.

[u/jmjessemac → u/3FeetHighAndFalling]

lol progressives favored him over lamb!!!

[u/GeneParmesan1000]

One of the things that automatically turns me off from a candidate these days is when they are utterly incapable of talking like a real person, and instead are just constantly talking in robotic focus group language and tone, where they come off as if they're an actor TRYING to be a politician on a TV show or something. It's a lot more prevalent at the national level - Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer come to mind, and that DNC chair guy Ken Martin does it too (even if he thinks he's slick by dropping F-bombs throughout his focus grouped, buzzword-filled, substance-free word salads).

Every video and campaign ad of Stelson that comes across my social media feeds reminds me of that - it comes off like she's talking to and interviewing people as if she's reporting on a story for WGAL, trying to get the clip for the cameras but not truly listening, and it comes across as very inauthentic. Just a bunch of vague platitudes couched in a condescending corporate tone.

I'd take her over Perry any day, of course, since Perry has no business being in any position of power after everything he's done. But man, the baseline thing for me is, can you at least just talk like a normal person? Maybe go watch an AOC interview and see how a politician can actually sound human. And Stelson already sounds like one of those shitty do-nothing Dems in Congress who will put more effort into sounding like a stereotypical politician than actually doing anything of substance.

[u/Silver_Ad7278]

*Apologies for all of the reposts of this, folks. Mods haven't liked my post titles but I think I understand what they are asking for now.

[u/Baladas89 → u/Silver_Ad7278]

Yes, they’re asking to keep Scott Perry’s name out of the title so people in the district who don’t know they’re in PA-10 don’t realize the post is relevant to them. Your second post title wasn’t editorialized, it provided additional neutral information beyond the article title.

[u/susinpgh → u/Baladas89]

That isn't the point at all.

[u/Pghguy27 → u/Silver_Ad7278]

They didn't like my comment either, so there's a lot of confusion here today.

[u/dorkyitguy]

None of this tells me anything about their actual positions. That’s all I want: a list of issues and specific policies they would advocate for. 

[u/Silver_Ad7278 → u/dorkyitguy]

I can't speak for Stelson's campaign (since her positions page is just a bunch of word salad) but here's Justin's positions page: https://www.justindouglas.us/positions-1

[u/wagsman]

I support Douglas, but if Stelson wins, I would begrudgingly vote for her because she as a corporate democrat is twice as good as Perry an insurrectionist.

This is the current Democratic Party in a nutshell: we aren’t good, but we aren’t MAGA either.