马克·利维 哈里斯堡，宾夕法尼亚州 — — 在所有代表摇摆选区的国会共和党议员中，可能没有人比宾夕法尼亚州的斯科特·佩里更与总统唐纳德·特朗普关系密切。
MARC LEVY HARRISBURG, Pa. — Of all the Republican members of Congress who represent swing districts, there may be none as closely linked to President Donald Trump as Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.
佩里在2017年和2025年支持了特朗普的标志性减税法案。他积极捍卫特朗普对伊朗的战争。当特朗普试图推翻民主党人乔·拜登在2020年总统选举中的胜利时，佩里试图使宾夕法尼亚州的选举人票无效，并提拔一名将依据阴谋论行事的代理司法部长。
Perry backed Trump’s signature tax-cutting laws in 2017 and 2025. He’s aggressively defended Trump’s war with Iran. And when Trump tried to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in 2020, Perry sought to invalidate Pennsylvania’s electoral votes and elevate an acting attorney general who would act on conspiracy theories.
现在的问题是，佩里与特朗普的关系是否会成为他在中期选举中的致命伤害 — — 此时总统特朗普极不受欢迎，而佩里正面临来自民主党人珍妮尔·斯蒂尔森的第二次挑战，两年前他曾以微弱优势击败了这位前地方电视台主播。
Now the question is whether Perry’s ties to Trump will be his undoing in a midterm election where the president is dramatically unpopular and Perry faces a second challenge from Democrat Janelle Stelson after he narrowly defeated the former local television anchor two years ago.
当被问及他是否需要与不受欢迎的特朗普区分开来才能获胜时，佩里不以为然地回避了这个问题。
Asked if he needed to differentiate himself from an unpopular Trump to win, Perry brushed off the question.
“我代表我自己。我不代表他，他也不代表我，”佩里告诉《美联社》。“如果你想知道我在某个问题上的立场，这个问题就是我的。我一直都是这么做的。一切未变。”民主党人长期认为佩里之所以脆弱，是因为他的硬右翼政治立场与日益温和的、倾向共和党的选区越来越脱节 — — 随着哈里斯堡郊区的发展，该选区正在变得更加温和。
“I speak for myself. I don’t speak for him, and he doesn’t speak for me,” Perry told The Associated Press. “If you want to know where I stand on an issue, the issue is mine. I’ve always been that way. Nothing’s changed.”Democrats have long believed that Perry was vulnerable because of his hard-right politics that look increasingly out of step with a Republican-leaning district that is moderating as Harrisburg’s suburbs grow.
他在2024年仅以1个百分点的优势击败了斯蒂尔森，使其成为当年全国最接近的众议院选举之一。特朗普在该选区以5个百分点击败了民主党候选人卡玛拉·哈里斯，分析人士表示，这表明忠诚的特朗普选民是把佩里拉过终点线的关键力量。特朗普政府似乎有意帮助佩里赢得胜利。
He defeated Stelson by only 1 percentage point in 2024, making it one of the country’s closest House races that year. Trump won the district by 5 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris, a performance that analysts say suggests that loyal Trump voters pulled Perry across the finish line. The Trump administration seems interested in helping Perry win.
国土安全部在一名尼日利亚男子被捕后，在一份公开声明中攻击了斯泰尔森。该部门称该男子非法入境，并为斯泰尔森的竞选活动工作。然而，斯泰尔森的竞选团队表示，他们并未雇佣该男子，支出记录也未显示向其支付款项，而一个非党派监督组织称，该部门违反了一项旨在防止联邦政府试图帮助或伤害候选人的法律。
The Department of Homeland Security attacked Stelson in a public statement after the arrest of a Nigerian man who it said was in the country illegally and working for Stelson’s campaign. Stelson’s campaign, however, said it didn’t employ the man, spending records didn’t show a payment to him and a nonpartisan watchdog said the department had violated a law intended to keep the federal government from trying to help or hurt candidates for office. Perry served as leader of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus in 2022 and 2023, when the caucus was a key player in two high-profile speakership fights .
佩里在2022年和2023年担任强硬派众议院自由党团的领袖，当时该党团是两场备受关注的议长争夺战中的关键力量。
The federal investigation into Trump’s effort to prevent Biden from taking office also put Perry in a national spotlight.
联邦调查特朗普阻止拜登就职的行动也使佩里成为全国焦点。他成为唯一一名个人手机被联邦当局扣押的国会议员。
He became the only member of Congress to have his personal cellphone seized by federal authorities . A federal judge later ordered Perry to turn over texts and emails to FBI agents.
随后，一名联邦法官下令佩里向FBI特工提交短信和电子邮件。他从未因犯罪被起诉。佩里迅速指出，他与特朗普存在分歧。
He was never charged with a crime. Perry is quick to point out that he has disagreements with Trump. For instance, he voted in February against a $1.2 trillion spending plan backed by Trump to end a partial federal government shutdown and said he opposes Trump’s plan to allow 600,000 Chinese students into American universities.
例如，他在2月投票反对特朗普支持的一项1.2万亿美元的支出计划，该计划旨在结束部分联邦政府停摆，并表示他反对特朗普允许60万名中国学生进入美国大学的计划。
“I’m one of the guys that stands up against my own party when I think they’re going the wrong way,” Perry said.
“我是那些在我认为自己政党走错路时敢于站出来反对自己政党的人之一，”佩里说。“而且不仅仅是默默地。是公开地。”在一次最近的访问中，共和党全国委员会主席乔·格鲁特斯表示，他告诉佩里要发挥自己的优势，比如佩里在陆军和国民警卫队近四十年的服役经历，其中包括在伊拉克执行直升机任务。
“And not just quietly. Vocally.”In a recent visit, Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said he told Perry to lean into his strengths, such as Perry’s nearly four decades in the Army and the National Guard that included flying helicopter missions in Iraq. “When you compare his record of service, not only to Pennsylvania but the country, I think it’s lights out,” Gruters said.
“当你把他的服役记录——不仅是为宾夕法尼亚州，也是为国家——进行比较时，我认为他已经无出其右了，”格鲁特斯说。“而这就是他获胜的地方。”然而，佩里已经因与特朗普的关联而受到影响。
“And that’s where he wins.”However, Perry has already suffered because of his association with Trump. One Republican voter, Terry Wallace, a retired Army colonel, said he had voted for Perry before the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters but won’t anymore.
一名共和党选民、退役陆军上校特里·华莱士表示，他在2021年1月6日特朗普支持者暴徒冲击美国国会大厦之前曾投票支持佩里，但现在不会再这样做了。
“I mean, he led the effort to throw out the Pennsylvania votes from the presidential election,” Wallace said.
“我是说，他领导了驱逐宾夕法尼亚州总统选举选票的努力，”华莱士说。“我记得他接下来声称是英国人在操纵我们的投票机。然后他指控中央情报局局长进行掩盖。”特蕾西·帕韦尔斯基的情况也一样。她曾在美国国会工作，并在国会警察中有朋友，她认为佩里是一个“不承认选举结果且是总统走狗的人”，不可信赖。
“I remember the next thing he claimed was the Brits were fixing our voting machines. And then he accused a person, the CIA director, of a cover-up.”It’s the same story with Tracy Pawelski. She used to work in the U.S. Capitol and had friends in the Capitol Police, and she came to see Perry as an “election denier and minion of the president” who can’t be trusted. Scott Trompeter, a Republican who dislikes Trump, said he’s unhappy that Perry has backed the president at a time when Trompeter, an Air Force veteran, and his girlfriend are clipping coupons to make ends meet.
不喜欢特朗普的共和党人斯科特·特龙佩特表示，他对佩里在此时仍支持总统感到不满。作为一名空军退伍军人，他和女朋友正在剪优惠券以维持生计。
On top of rising food and gas prices , Trompeter is aghast at Trump-fueled “nonsense” like Trump’s plans to host military drones, snipers and ammunition inside a ceremonial arch that he wants to build across the Potomac River from Washington. “Like, what is going on?”
除了食品和油价上涨之外，特龙佩特对特朗普煽动的“荒唐事”感到震惊，比如特朗普计划在他想建造的横跨波托马克河的仪式性拱门内部署军用无人机、狙击手和弹药。
Trompeter said.
“就像，到底发生了什么？”特龙佩特说。“然后像斯科特·佩里这样的人如果提交表决，就会投赞成票。”斯泰尔森在电视行业工作了近四十年，主要担任哈里斯堡市场NBC附属台的主播。她还曾随宾夕法尼亚州国民警卫队驻扎科索沃，主持过辩论并采访过总统和其他政客。
“And then people like Scott Perry will vote for that if it comes to a vote.”Stelson spent almost four decades working in television, mostly as an anchor at the NBC affiliate in the Harrisburg market. She also embedded with the Pennsylvania National Guard in Kosovo, moderated debates and interviewed presidents and other politicians. Running for office for the first time in 2024, she easily won a six-way Democratic primary to challenge Perry, despite drawing flack because she didn’t live in the district and had just changed her registration from Republican to Democrat.
她在2024年首次参选，尽管因未居住在选区且刚刚将党籍从共和党改为民主党而受到批评，但她仍然轻松赢得了六人民主党初选，以此挑战佩里。
Then, as now, Stelson has crafted a platform designed to sway moderate Republicans .
当时如此，如今亦然，斯泰尔森制定了一个旨在吸引温和共和党人的平台。她将佩里描绘为推高生活成本的帮凶，淡化对特朗普的批评，并避免将自己与民主党左翼派系关联起来。
She portrays Perry as helping jack up the cost of living, plays down criticism of Trump and avoids associating herself with the Democratic Party’s left flank. For instance, she talks about how Trump strengthened border security while Biden failed, calls herself a fiscal conservative and rejects Perry’s accusation that she would align with the socialist left if elected.
例如，她谈到特朗普如何加强了边境安全，而拜登却失败了，她自称是财政保守派，并驳斥佩里的指责，称如果当选她会与社会主义左翼结盟。“他在撒谎，而且他知道自己在撒谎，”斯泰尔森说。
“He’s lying, and he knows he’s lying,” Stelson said. She quips that, to beat Perry, she needs to win 5,134 more Republican votes — one more vote than her losing margin in 2024 — and dismisses suggestions that pursuing moderates will cost her the Democrats she’ll also need.
她开玩笑说，为了击败佩里，她需要再赢得5134张共和党选票——比她在2024年落败时的差距多一票——并驳斥了争取温和派选民会让她失去她同样需要的民主党选票的说法。
What she worries about, she said, is what people tell her about every day, and that’s their struggle with the cost of living.
她说，她担心的是人们每天告诉她的事情，那就是他们在生活成本方面的挣扎。
“They don’t ask me where I sit on a political spectrum,” she said.
“他们不会问我在政治光谱上的位置在哪里，”她说。“我不认为他们在乎。”关注马克·利维的报道。
“I don’t think they care.”Follow Marc Levy at.