As campaign winds down, Rep. Scott Perry gets biblical with ‘good vs. evil’ pitch

With the November election just days away, six-term incumbent Rep. Scott Perry offered a stark message to voters at a rally with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). 

“The devil is everywhere. You can see it in the things we’re talking about,” Perry told a crowd of roughly 200 supporters at an American Legion post in Linglestown, Dauphin County, Wednesday evening.

In his seven-minute speech, Perry talked about what he saw as the successes of the Trump administration — cutting Medicaid spending, sharply curbing immigration and prosecuting the war in Iran — but the devil could be found in the partisan political struggles in Washington, D.C. and the agenda of his opposition.

“The adversary’s not in this room,” he said. “The adversary’s out there trying to destroy our country and take our country down.”

As Perry faces what may be his most difficult reelection fight yet, his rally with one of the country’s most powerful Republicans was about setting high stakes.

“I don’t mean to make light of this. We are in a battle for the soul of our nation,” Perry said just after taking the stage. He encouraged the crowd to think of the election as part of a “battle between good and evil.”

While Perry framed the election in biblical terms, Johnson, who is third in line for the presidency, warned that if Democrats gain more power — the party is hoping to flip both the U.S. House and Senate — their agenda would be driven by their “Marxist, communist left” flank.

“They’re gonna take over the means of production,” Johnson warned. “They’re gonna eliminate private property ownership. I’m not making this up. It’s not just trans surgeries for children and the abolishment of prison. It’s everything. It’s madness.”

Johnson was referring in part to the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, which calls for abolishing the Senate, abolishing police, and “public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries.” Notably, the Trump administration has announced major public investments in 40 private companies in key industries, according to the CATO institute. That includes taking a roughly 10% stake in the computer chip maker Intel and a 35% stake in an oil company with fields in Venezuela.

Perry, a six-term incumbent, faces former WGAL news anchor Janelle Stelson, who he beat by just over 1% the vote in 2024. That was a year when Democrats underperformed up and down the ballot, and many in Stelson’s camp hope voter dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump can help her finally win a majority vote this year.

In a statement provided to the Capital-Star after Perry’s rally, Stelson, a former Republican, said, “I do not see Republicans as evil. I do not see Congressman Perry as evil. I believe that after 30 years, Scott Perry has been in politics too long. And I believe he is out of touch with our area.”

Stelson specifically criticized Perry’s support of the Trump administration’s tariff regime and the war in Iran, and added that she opposes “the policies of a group of far-left members of the Democratic Party who support open borders and defunding police.”

The 10th District race has become the most expensive for a U.S. House seat in Pennsylvania. The two candidates have collectively raised nearly $16 million and Stelson has the fundraising edge. Though recent polling has the candidates locked in a virtual tie.

More broadly, polling shows Johnson’s majority may be in trouble as Democrats make gains even in traditionally Republican districts. Control of the U.S. Senate will also come down to the outcome of a handful of closely-watched elections.

Near the top of his speech, Johnson warned voters not to trust those polls.

“All the pollsters are wrong,” Johnson said. “Let me tell you what’s happening: they’re undersampling Republicans. We know it to be true.”

Johnson alleged some have pollsters that presented “fraudulent numbers … leaning far in favor of Democrats.” He cited a recent Pew Research Center report he described as “admitt[ing] that their polling is inaccurate.”

Johnson was likely referring to a Pew report on how pollsters can weight responses to account for Republicans becoming less likely to participate in them. (As a note of disclosure, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of the States Newsroom network, which has received funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts.)

When Johnson asked the crowd who had participated in a political poll in the last six months, around 10 of roughly 200 attendees raised their hands.

In his nearly 20-minute speech, Johnson also touted Republicans’ legislative accomplishments during Trump’s second term. In particular, he highlighted tax cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including ending taxes on tips and expanded tax deductions for seniors on Social Security.

He also praised the creation of a nationwide school voucher program (participation is up to states, and so far Gov. Josh Shapiro has yet to opt in Pennsylvania) and a prohibition on Medicaid funding going to Planned Parenthood. And he touted historically low crime rates and unemployment as proof of Republicans’ success under the current Trump administration.

But, Johnson stressed that the coming election was about more than policy preference.

“In the next Congress, we’re not going to be having all the traditional arguments about marginal tax rates, and shades of regulation, and slight differences in foreign policy,” he said. “We are going to be fighting to defend the American way, to hold the republic, to keep it and pass it along to our children and grandchildren.”

“Make sure our voice is heard”

While Perry described the current political landscape as a battle — he compared Republicans and their supporters to American troops in Normandy on D-Day, persevering against seemingly impossible odds — he also reminded supporters that the fight was at the ballot box.

“We don’t have to pick up arms, God bless it, we don’t have to do that,” he said. “All we have to do is make sure our voice is heard. Gently do that by making sure your battle is in and counted.”

Following Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020, Perry was “a key congressional [ally]” as the president fought to block certification of the election, according to a report authored by the Jan. 6 Select Committee. Despite no evidence of widespread fraud, Perry voted not to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the winner after rioters temporarily forced Congress from its chambers on Jan. 6, 2021.

While Perry and Johnson framed the election in existential terms, State Rep. Marc Anderson (R-York), who served as host at the rally, focused his comments on Stelson.

“She doesn’t have a plan,” he said. “She would do exactly what [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries tells her to do.”

State Rep. Joe Kerwin (R-Dauhin) and state Sen. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland) also spoke ahead of Perry and Johnson.

Rothman, who serves as elected chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, urged attendees to remember how much had changed since President Trump took office. Inflation, he said, had drastically lowered since its highs under Biden in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and illegal immigration has plummeted too.

A pair of pastors opened and closed the rally with prayer.

“This is about spiritual warfare,” York County Bible Baptist Church Pastor Bill Schutt said near the beginning of the rally, urging supporters to engage by helping get out the vote. “We need God’s people to get engaged in this warfare.”

Harrisburg Pastor Edel Santana closed the rally with a benediction. He said he would be in his church overnight Friday and fast all day Saturday ahead of the election.

“God, do not allow these socialists to take control,” he said.