'Insurrectionist' Freedom Caucus member flails as legal fees cripple re-election: report

The political future of Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), a rabid supporter of Donald Trump whose involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection has led to legal fees that have drained his cash coffers, is reported to be increasingly in doubt.

Perry, one of the faces of the far-right Freedom Caucus, now has a formidable opponent for his seat in a district that has undergone changes making it far less red, and Democrats are planning to outgun him with money — a scheduled $2.4 million in TV ads in the four weeks before election day.

According to a report from the New York Times' Robert Draper, Perry, a notoriously poor fundraiser, is entering the "postprimary season with about $500,000 in cash on hand, less than any other House Republican facing a significant general election challenge."

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That comes after he has had to divert $327,000 to pay his legal fees as the Department of Justice seized his phone while investigating his part in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

According to the Times, after the primary this week where former Republican Janelle Stelson, a popular local TV personality, won the Democratic nomination, the Cook Political Report shifted the battle from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.”

In an interview with local voters, one Democrat, Deborah Genet, asserted, Perry is "an insurrectionist who believes in the Big Lie.”

That was echoed by Republican voter, Mary O’Connor, who told the Times, “What Scott Perry did in the days leading up to Jan. 6 was unforgivable.”

Harrisburg-based pollster James Lee stated that the recent reshaping of districts has not been friendly to Perry, explaining, "Perry’s seat is definitely creeping its way into the swing-district category."

There were already ominous signs for the Republican incumbent going into the 2024 election season after newly elected Governor Josh Shapiro (D) won the district by 12 points in 2022.

The Times report adds, "The recent Democratic victories were driven by the swelling population of center-left suburbanites who work in the state government and in the district’s burgeoning medical community. Those same professionals tend to view Mr. Trump with disfavor, part of a national trend that may provide Mr. Biden with his best path to victory in Pennsylvania and other swing states."

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