GEOFF BENNETT: In 2020, President Biden won Pennsylvania by less than two points.

For the president and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, winning Pennsylvania in November is key to winning the White House.

But some lifelong Republicans, frustrated by their party's embrace of Donald Trump, are getting involved downballot.

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has more -- Laura.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thanks, Geoff.

In South Central Pennsylvania, the "NewsHour" met up with GOP voters ready to make a point about the direction of their party.

Their focus?

The race for the 10th Congressional District.

In an election year, it is not unusual for a group of local Republicans to meet up.

But these Republicans are meeting to help elect a Democrat.

CRAIG SNYDER, Republicans Against Perry: We can't lose our ability to be outraged.

We need to be outraged.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Craig Snyder, a Republican political organizer in Pennsylvania, is gathering other like-minded conservatives in the state.

They are fed up with the 2020 election conspiracies and the unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump that have become defining features of their party.

To counter the former president, they are focusing their sites downballot.

The target?

Six-term Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, a faithful Trump ally who spread lies that the 2020 election was stolen.

CRAIG SNYDER: How can he say that the conviction, the lawful due process conviction of Donald Trump, was worse for American democracy than the violent mob that stormed our Capitol, defecated in our Capitol?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Their group, Republicans Against Perry, is hoping to encourage moderate Republicans to back the Democratic contender.

JANELLE STELSON (D), Pennsylvania Congressional Candidate: The nation is watching this seat.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Janelle Stelson, who until this election cycle was a registered Republican and local news anchor.

JANELLE STELSON: When you pay attention to what Scott Perry has been doing, he is so extreme, he doesn't even vote with his Republican colleagues most of the time.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Perry, these Republicans argue, is an extremist who did much more than just vote to overturn the 2020 election results.

REP. SCOTT PERRY (R-PA): When votes are accepted under unconstitutional means without fair and equal protection for all, the only result can be an illegitimate outcome, illegitimate.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the lead-up to January 6, Perry repeatedly pushed for Trump to install fellow election denier Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general and was investigated for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

FMR.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): As you will see, representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6 to seek a presidential pardon.

Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Last December, Perry was ordered to turn over more than 1,600 text messages, e-mails, and other communications to federal prosecutors investigating Trump's attempt to block the peaceful transfer of power.

Snyder hopes that voters see Stelson as a level-headed alternative to Perry, who didn't make himself available to "NewsHour" for this piece.

Voters in this district voted for Donald Trump in 2020.

They consistently have voted for Scott Perry.

So what makes you think that this time could be any different?

CRAIG SNYDER: This is not some member of the AOC Squad coming in to sort of impose progressivism on Central Pennsylvania.

This is a moderate who easily, in an earlier time, not that long ago, could have run as a Republican.

We know that there are enough Republicans in this district to split their tickets, because Josh Shapiro, our governor, carried this district against Doug Mastriano, another extremist MAGA candidate like Scott Perry.

Shapiro carried this district by 12 percent.

CHARLIE GEROW, Republican Strategist: Well, I began my career with Ronald Reagan.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But in a district that leans red, Perry supporters, like longtime Republican operative Charlie Gerow, are confident Perry will survive the challenge.

CHARLIE GEROW: He does a great job with constituent service, but he also mirrors the attitudes and opinions of the district.

His military service is something that people respect, and his conservative values all really work in that district.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: We have encountered people who call themselves lifelong Republicans who say that part of why they're not supporting Scott Perry this time around is because of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his involvement in January 6 and around January 6.

What's your response to that?

CHARLIE GEROW: Well, the whole thing around January 6 is, in my judgment, merely a talking point, not anything that has real grounding in the district, because, if it was a significant factor, it would have shown two years ago, and it clearly didn't.

There have been folks that have said we're not for the Republican candidate who are Republicans for as long as I can remember.

They were against Ronald Reagan.

They were against George Bush.

Now they're against Donald Trump and Scott Perry.

But I'm going to tell you that, in the 10th District, Donald Trump's going to do very well, and Scott Perry's going to do exceedingly well.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Trump loyalists like Charlie might have history on their side, but ground in this competitive district could be shifting.

According to a recent poll conducted between late May and early June, Perry and Trump were leading their respective races, until a jury convicted the former president on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Support for both candidates dropped in the district.

Perry's seven-point lead over Stelson fell to one point, a statistical dead heat.

The Republicans we spoke to voted for Perry in the past, but now see him as an extension of pro-Trump extremism.

Beyond January 6, some criticized Perry's votes against funding for Ukraine, Israel, and keeping the government open.

TIM SHOLLENBERGER, Republicans Against Perry: They're tired of people that won't cross the aisle to work with the other people, and they're tired of people that are so far one way or the other that they can't see any other point of view.

And that sums up Scott Perry's politics.

RON RUMAN, Pennsylvania Voter: Those extreme positions, I feel, are out of step with where I am and I think with many people in this area.

And I don't see that changing in the future.

So I think we need to have a change in our representative.

CRAIG SNYDER: We're trying to get 20,000 votes.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: In the end, Snyder hopes his fight against Perry convinces more Republicans to reject the man who he feels made his party unrecognizable.

CRAIG SNYDER: Sometimes, if you can draw people to the ballot to vote for somebody in a lower office, a downballot office, that, once they have made that decision, they will carry the same sort of principles up the ballot as well.

If we can highly motivate people to vote against Perry, they may well decide that they can't at the same time vote for Trump.

We just have to give them a permission structure, tell them that other Republicans are doing this, that they are not becoming progressive Democrats by casting this vote.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: But in a district that voted for Trump by four points in 2020, that could be a tall order.

Despite various attempts, Scott Perry did not sit down with us for an interview.

But we asked his campaign about the concerns raised by some Republican voters in his district.

His campaign spokesperson said in a statement to "NewsHour" that -- quote -- "Despite being targeted by D.C.'s radical left groups time and time again, the voters will again support him this November because they know his track record and that Scott Perry is working tirelessly for them."

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura, thank you for that reporting.

I want to shift our focus now and ask you about some news you broke earlier today about an executive action that President Biden is expected to take very soon.

Tell us about it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: So, next Tuesday, Geoff, the White House is going to hold an event that is marking the 12th anniversary of the Obama era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which protected migrants that were brought to the U.S. as children.

And six sources familiar told me, you, as well as our colleague Amna Nawaz, that they expect that the White House, that the president is going to announce an executive action that is going to shield certain undocumented migrants at that event.

And that expected executive action is going to specifically apply to undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens, will protect them from deportation, give them access to work permits, and likely ease their pathway to citizenship.

Now, sources also told me that those undocumented spouses that this executive action is expected to apply to would have to have been in the U.S. for roughly five to 10 years to receive this benefit.

And this action could also potentially protect some dreamers, those DACA recipients we just talked about, providing some of them some work visas.

GEOFF BENNETT: So how many people overall would potentially be affected by this?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Immigrant advocate groups have estimated about 1.1 million people could benefit from this, but sources close to the White House expect this executive action to be much more narrow in scope and it could affect around 500,000, instead of that 1.1 million.

And I should add that the White House, a White House official told me that there's no final decision has been made that this is still fluid.

But sources close to the White House really expect that, Tuesday, come Tuesday, the president is going to announce some protections for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Laura, this could be -- have to underscore and emphasize the word could because it's still taking shape -- this could be the biggest relief program since DACA.

What's the expected political impact here?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And mentioning DACA, Geoff, that came out in June of 2012, President Barack Obama's reelection year.

He went on to win reelection that year.

But multiple Democratic polling firms told me that their polling shows that a majority of voters, some 74 percent, support this type of relief for undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.

And Latino voters in battleground states, who are currently not supporting President Biden, move toward supporting him by double digits when they find out that he's considering this type of relief for undocumented spouses.

And, again, multiple sources also told me that President Biden's campaign and the White House is well aware of this data.

So this is something that they're clearly keeping in mind when they're looking towards this new potential executive action.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, thanks so much for this terrific reporting.

We appreciate it.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.