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112 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Luzerne County; 1 new death

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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Former Vice President Joe Biden will visit Luzerne County on Saturday at Dallas High School.
				Biden is expected to fly into the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m. for an event in Luzerne County.
				The Biden campaign has not confirmed the site nor have any details been released.
				The Biden campaign released an advisory Thursday afternoon:
				&ldquo;Jill and Joe Biden to travel to Pennsylvania.
				&ldquo;On Saturday, Oct. 24, Jill and Joe Biden will travel to Bucks County and Luzerne County in Pennsylvania to speak about building back the economy better for working families and encourage Pennsylvanians to make a plan to vote.&rdquo;
				Campaign&rsquo;s response
				Here&rsquo;s what the Biden campaign said about the decision to come to Luzerne County:
				&#8226; Luzerne is one of three pivot counties in Pennsylvania which swung from Obama to Trump in 2016.
				&#8226; This marks Biden&rsquo;s second visit to a county that flipped from Obama to Trump in Pennsylvania in just two weeks &mdash; on Oct. 10, Biden visited Erie, a county that Trump narrowly won in 2016 after it had voted for the Democratic candidate for president every election since Ronald Reagan.
				&#8226; While Trump won Luzerne County by 20 points in 2016, Biden&rsquo;s deep roots to Northeast Pennsylvania pose a significant threat to Trump in the region, as Luzerne borders Biden&rsquo;s home county of Lackawanna.
				&#8226; Under Trump&rsquo;s leadership, Pennsylvania has lost 25,000 manufacturing jobs.
				&#8226; Luzerne County&rsquo;s 12.4% unemployment rate is still nearly double what it was at the beginning of the year.
				Employment among low-wage workers in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties has decreased since January, further exacerbating the economic impact of the pandemic.
				Statewide, Pennsylvania is down 319,000 jobs since Trump was elected &mdash; and 512,000 since the crisis started &mdash; reversing all of the 212,000 gains during the Obama-Biden Administration, and then some.
				&#8226; Because of Trump&rsquo;s failure to contain the virus and deliver the state and local relief the needed, Luzerne County was forced to impose furloughs on 128 workers to balance its budget.
				&#8226; 1 in 6 small businesses in Pennsylvania remain shuttered since the beginning of the year, and may never reopen due to the economic impact of the pandemic, and if Trump&rsquo;s efforts to tear down the Affordable Care Act are successful, nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians could lose their health care.
				&#8226; NEPA has a large share of labor households, particularly Carpenters, IBEW and AFL-CIO. In total, over 700,000 Pennsylvanians are members of labor unions, and Biden has received the endorsement of the largest unions in the state and country, including the Pennsylvania Building Trades, the Philadelphia Building Trades, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the International Union of Operating Engineers, the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, and more.
				&#8226; Luzerne County union steward Cheryl Herron noted, &ldquo;I know Joe Biden will get us back on the right track. I know this because I know he cares about me and my family. He has actual plans &mdash; plans that we have yet to see from Donald Trump. He (Trump), in my opinion, will go down as the worst president in American history.&rdquo;
				A message to the Trump campaign seeking comment on the Biden campaign&rsquo;s claims was not immediately returned.
				Battleground Pa.
				Saturday&rsquo;s Biden trip to Pennsylvania, which holds 20 electoral votes, includes the critical Philadelphia suburb of Bucks County and the pivot county of Luzerne, which voted for the Obama-Biden ticket in 2012 but helped to deliver Pennsylvania to Trump in 2016.
				In 2016, Trump trounced Hillary Clinton in Luzerne County by 26,237 votes &mdash; a 20-point win which provided Trump nearly 60 percent of his victory margin in Pennsylvania. Trump won the state by just over 40,000 votes in 2016 and with it, its 20 electoral votes.
				Many political observers feel victory in 2020 again rests with Pennsylvania.
				The visit comes during the last week of early voting in the Commonwealth. Already more than 1 million Pennsylvanians have voted early or returned their mail-in ballots, with registered Democrats returning their ballots at an over 3-1 margin compared to Republicans. Pennsylvanians can vote early in person through October 27 and can continue to drop off their mail ballots in person through Election Day.
				Bucks County is one of the four key counties surrounding Philadelphia which have seen historic Democratic gains since 2016, driven by women voters.
				This will be Biden&rsquo;s first visit to Luzerne County since he attended an event at Fox Hill Country Club in October 2019, shortly after declaring his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination for president.
				President Donald Trump, who held two large rallies at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in 2016, has not yet campaigned in Luzerne County this campaign, though he has been in Lackawanna County twice. Vice President Mike Pence did visit the county, holding a rally in Exeter.
				Trump was in Scranton on the night before the election in 2016 and sources say he may make an appearance in Luzerne County on Monday, Nov. 2, with Pence.

VP Joe Biden to hold rally at Dallas High School Saturday afternoon