Reinforcing the importance of the Keystone State to the presidential hopes of his campaign, former President Donald Trump will hold a rally on Friday afternoon in Johnstown.

He will appear at the 4,000 seat 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial at 4:30 p.m. with doors open to ticket-holders at 12:30.

It will be the 45th president’s first trip back to western PA since the attempted assassination in Butler on July 13.

“President Trump knows that Pennsylvania cannot take another four years of a dangerously incompetent and dangerously liberal Kamala Harris,” said the Trump campaign in a release announcing the visit. “A Trump-Vance Administration will Make America Great Again by unleashing American drilling to halve energy costs, halting the migrant invasion on our southern border, and restoring America’s rightful standing and respect on the world stage.”

Trump also held a rally in Wilkes-Barre and gave an economic address in York in the last two weeks.

Johnstown is less than two hours from the site of the shooting in Butler and Cambria County has been rock-solid red in recent memory. Trump easily outdistanced President Joe Biden in the county of more than 131,000 residents with 68 percent of the vote.

The area is one of Trump’s strongholds in Pennsylvania. Cambria County, home to Johnstown, went emphatically Republican in 2020, with Trump getting 68% of the vote compared to Biden’s 31%.

Trump last visited the Johnstown area during the 2020 campaign.

“We already know Trump is going to be strong across Cambria County,” Cambria County Republican Chairwoman Jackie Kulback told the Tribune-Democrat. “What we’re seeing is that he’s looking for opportunities to have an impact across the state in races such as the 72nd.”

Republicans are aiming to retake control of the state House of Representatives, with their candidate, Amy Bradley, “the best chance we’ve had” to unseat longtime state Rep. Frank Burns (D-Cambria/Somerset) in the 72nd District, Kulback said.

“Everyone says this area is ‘Trump Country,’ but I think the reason he’s coming here is that he’s not so sure anymore,” Cambria County Democratic Party Chairwoman Nina Licastro said. “Many people are tired of the hate, the lies and the grift. They see Kamala as someone who wants to unite us.”