Perry appears to have filmed a campaign video in his congressional office, faces ethics complaint

This story was originally published by WITF. 

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, representing Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, is facing an ethics complaint for posting to his campaign Facebook page a video that appears to have been recorded in his congressional office.

Number one on the U.S. House Committee on Ethics’ top 10 list for things to remember about campaign activity states, “You may not conduct campaign activities in official buildings or using official resources.”

Neither Perry’s campaign nor his congressional office responded by the time of publication.

Defend the Vote, a liberal Political Action Committee, filed the ethics complaint Monday with the Office of Congressional Conduct. The office conducts investigations and, if deemed appropriate, turns them over to the House Committee on Ethics.

The complaint alleges, “Rep. Scott Perry repeatedly used official House resources to benefit his campaign.”

Perry’s campaign posted the same video to the Scott Perry for Congress Facebook page in November 2025 then again Oct. 16.

“This matters because it could violate the most basic ethics principle at the federal, state and local level, which is you cannot use taxpayer funds for political campaign activity,” said Kedric Payne with the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan group that advocates for election and campaign reforms.

There are different degrees of potential ethics violations, Payne said, giving the hypothetical example of using an official staffer for campaign duties as another level of violation severity.

“You can make a distinction between the degree of a potential violation, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it could be a violation,” Payne said.

Now the center’s vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics, Payne previously served from 2009-14 in the nonpolitical role of deputy chief counsel in what is currently called the Office of Congressional Conduct.

Perry is running for reelection against Democratic candidate Janelle Stelson. She critiqued Perry’s past statements on Democrats’ feelings about the military, and Perry’s campaign reposted the video as a rebuttal.

Read the full complaint here:

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— Defend The Vote (@wedefendthevote.org) October 28, 2026 at 12:01 PM

Defend the Vote PAC endorsed Stelson and has given $10,000 to her campaign since July 2025, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Spokesperson for the PAC, Adam Bozzi, defended the late October ethics filing by saying a 10-day turnaround from the most recent video posting is quick. He said regardless of the PAC’s endorsement of Stelson, the complaint is legitimate based on the House’s rules of ethics.

If Perry wins reelection, the ethics committee could rebuke Perry in writing. If Perry loses, the complaint will be moot.

The video was originally recorded and posted to Perry’s campaign page in 2025 in response to media coverage of his appearance on a nationally syndicated conservative radio program, the Chris Stigall Show. During a discussion of the politics of the government shutdown, Perry said Democrats “hate the military,” and that “the Democrats don’t care about the Pentagon, they don’t care about the Constitution, or the nation’s defense.”

This year, the Stelson campaign’s strategy has been to use Perry’s record in office against him, during the debate and in campaign materials. Stelson’s campaign resurfaced Perry’s comments and attacked him using campaign ads for disparaging Democrats in the military.

“I never said anything like it,” Perry’s campaign post reads. “I specifically and forcefully said “DEMOCRAT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS,” and I stand by it – with proof.”

In the video included in the post, Perry discussed the six Democratic members of Congress who released their own video last year encouraging servicemembers to refuse illegal orders, calling it validation of his position.

The ethics complaint also notes Perry’s campaign reposting a link in 2024 to a video of Perry during a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting, which may violate provisions against using official proceedings for campaign material.