Resuming campaign travel, Trump to return to Pa.

HARRISBURG, PA. » President Donald Trump plans to travel to Johnstown on Tuesday, his first visit to Pennsylvania following his positive coronavirus test a few days after he was last in the battleground state.

The evening rally on Tuesday is at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport. The airport is in a coal and steel county that once supported Democrats, but in the 2016 election, delivered a 37 percentage-point victory for Trump.

The county also delivered strong results for Republicans in the 2018 election and, in recent weeks, Republicans overtook Democrats for the edge in the county’s voter registration.

Since 2016, Democratic registration has shrunk in Cambria County by more than 7,000, while Republican registration has risen by more than 6,000.

Trump resumed campaign travel Monday after testing positive, being hospitalized and then quarantining at the White House.

Trump’s stop in Johnstown follows Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s visit there on Sept. 30. Biden was also in Erie on Saturday and will attend an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Some recent Pennsylvania polls show Trump and Biden in a competitive race, while others have Biden slightly ahead.

Trump won Pennsylvania by a little over 44,000 votes in 2016 — less than 1 percentage point — and Democrats hope Biden’s outreach to the middle class and efforts to frame the race as Scranton vs. Park Avenue will yield better results in places like Cambria County.