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Our view: It’s a great time to come downtown

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Wilkes-Barre businesses offer free haircuts and pizza for homeless

<p>YATESVILLE &#8212; Angel Mathis said she was invited to Sunday night&#8217;s Democratic rally featuring former Vice President Joe Biden, so she decided to attend.</p><p>Mathis brought her daughter, Monique Parham, and her mother, Toni Mathis, to hear Biden rally about 350 Democrats gathered at Pittston Area High School two days before Tuesday&#8217;s general election.</p><p>&#8220;I have a daughter with a catastrophic illness,&#8221; Mathis said. &#8220;Health care is my main concern &#8212; it&#8217;s a major concern.&#8221;</p><p>Mathis said she needs to be able to have a health care plan that accepts pre-existing conditions, a feature the Democratic ticket &#8212; headed by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright &#8212; have vowed to protect.</p><p>Mathis said she her health care plan recently changed and she lost a lot of coverage &#8212; so much so, that if she can&#8217;t find a replacement, the cost for her daughter&#8217;s care and prescriptions would be way beyond her ability to pay. Mathis said her daughter recently was approved for Medicaid, but she has heard the campaign rhetoric that hints that a Republican-controlled Congress might drastically cut that program.</p><p>&#8220;I know Sen. Casey supports Medicaid and pre-existing conditions for health care,&#8221; Mathis said. &#8220;That&#8217;s why I wanted to come here and show support for him and Mr. Cartwright.&#8221;</p><p>Casey, D-Scranton, is facing a challenge from U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, in Tuesday&#8217;s election. Polls have shown Casey with a comfortable lead, but after 2016 when Hillary Clinton was ahead in most polls, Casey is not taking anything for granted. That&#8217;s why he, Cartwright and Biden repeatedly urged voters to get out and vote.</p><p>Cartwright is also in a battle to earn his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican John Chrin of Monroe County has waged a tough battle and has spent a lot of money on political advertising to get his message out &#8212; that he will support the agenda of President Donald Trump.</p><p>In the other local race for Congress, Republican Dan Meuser of Shavertown is running against Democrat Denny Wolff of Columbia County in the 9th Congressional District.</p><p>Sitting not far from Mathis was Nancy O&#8217;Donnell, 94 of Wilkes-Barre, with her daughter-in-law, Shivaun O&#8217;Donnell.</p><p>&#8220;I like Joe Biden,&#8221; O&#8217;Donnell, of Wilkes-Barre, said. &#8220;And I like Casey and Cartwright. I&#8217;ll vote for them on Tuesday.&#8221;</p><p>Shivaun O&#8217;Donnell said her mother-in-law never misses a chance to vote in primaries and general elections.</p><p>&#8220;She never misses,&#8221; Shivaun said.</p><p>Although the rally was held in a small venue, it still resembled the recent rallies held by Trump and Barletta, as far as enthusiasm was concerned. The crowd didn&#8217;t miss a beat, chanting &#8220;Democrats&#8221; when prompted by several speakers who would ask which party is for senior citizens, children, people with disabilities, the environment, labor, workplace safety and the two hot topics, Social Security and Medicare.</p><p>The crowd also chanted &#8220;Run Joe Run&#8221; when Biden, 75, took the stage, but the Scranton native didn&#8217;t take the bait, deciding that a decision on whether he will take on Trump in 2020 is yet to be made.</p><p>Sen. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, took the stage and got the crowd energized.</p><p>&#8220;The Democratic Party is built to do more than resist,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We are built to win elections.&#8221;</p><p>And then Yudichak took a shot at the recently released book by Ben Bradlee Jr., in which the author credits/blames Luzerne County for giving Trump Pennsylvania and the 2016 election.</p><p>&#8220;We are not the forgotten,&#8221; Yudichak said, panning the title of Bradlee&#8217;s book &#8220;The Forgotten.&#8221; &#8220;We are the future.&#8221;</p><p>Cartwright came out and paid tribute to former Pennsylvania first lady Ellen Casey of Scranton, mother of Sen. Casey. When Biden came out later, he first went to Ellen Casey to give her a hug and a kiss, calling her one of the greatest women he has ever known.</p><p>After the rally, people leaving the high school seemed satisfied with what they had heard and all said they intended to vote Tuesday. In the 2017 municipal election in Luzerne County, voter turnout was just under 25 percent of all registered voters.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area junior Hannah Farber sings the national anthem after senior class president Joe DeLucca lead the Pledge of Allegiance during a Democratic rally at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110518DemocraticRally_4-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittston Area junior Hannah Farber sings the national anthem after senior class president Joe DeLucca lead the Pledge of Allegiance during a Democratic rally at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Sunday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110518DemocraticRally_4CMYK.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area junior Hannah Farber sings the national anthem after senior class president Joe DeLucca lead the Pledge of Allegiance during a Democratic rally at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Sunday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_TTL110518DemocraticRally_4CMYK.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pittston Area junior Hannah Farber sings the national anthem after senior class president Joe DeLucca lead the Pledge of Allegiance during a Democratic rally at Pittston Area High School in Yatesville on Sunday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Crowd shows plenty of enthusiasm for Democrats