After six months of being off the campaign trail due to the coronavirus pandemic, Democratic congressional candidate Tracy Mitrano will hold a town hall meeting outside at Olean’s Franchot Park Saturday.

Those participating in the town hall are expected to wear masks and practice social distancing to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Mitrano has continued to campaign virtually, has had a record fundraising quarter and has begun a television ad campaign across the 11-county 23rd Congressional District.

Mitrano, of Penn Yan, who has mounted another challenge this year to Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, spoke with reporters on a wide range of topics during her weekly media call on Thursday.

She is in the midst of a three-day in-person western campaign swing in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.

After stops in the Jamestown, Dunkirk and Fredonia areas, she will appear at a town hall meeting at Franchot Park in Olean Saturday from 1-2:30 p.m.

To give people an idea of how wide the district is, Mitrano points out the sun rises in Tioga County in the eastern part of the district 14 minutes before its rays hit the Lake Erie shore. She’s criss-crossed the district for three years seeking to unseat Reed, a five-term incumbent.

Mitrano’s message at the town hall meetings is about the need for economic development across the district and Reed’s failure to deliver significant resources over the past decade.

Her opening remarks highlight the area’s need for economic development, healthcare, education, infrastructure and the environment, areas where she says Reed has failed. One of the district’s greatest needs remains broadband internet services to rural and other unserved areas. It is one of the building blocks necessary to rebuild the region’s economy, Mitrano said.

Mitrano’s return to the campaign trail has given her renewed insight into residents concerns.

“People are very concerned overall over the lack of economic development — even before COVID-19,” she said.

To attract new companies, the region needs to show it has healthy, educated people, good infrastructure and natural resources. “These are the places businesses want to invest.” From the hospitality industry to advanced manufacturing, without high-speed internet, they aren’t going to locate here.

Reed has voted against healthcare, a host of education issues including the high cost of student loans, Mitrano said.

Mitrano said Reed has refused to criticize President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans since March. If the federal government had been more concerned about COVID-19, many of those deaths could have been avoided, she added.

“There was no coherent national plan to coordinate (response) between the president, CDC and Congress,” said Mitrano, a cybersecurity expert and former college official at Cornell University. “This needs to be coordinated down to the state and local levels.”

She said she was particularly concerned over the failure of Congress and the president to get COVID relief funding to schools to open schools safely.

Mitrano said remarks attributed to the president during a trip to Paris calling the fallen U.S. soldiers in a French cemetery he decided not to visit “suckers and losers” have really resonated among voters, especially veterans and their families.

“One person told me the president crossed the line with that remark,” Mitrano told reporters. He said he’d voted for Trump and supported him, but the suckers and losers remark crossed the line.” She said it was “very disrespectful” of the fallen soldiers. Most of the men in her family have served in the military, she added.

Mitrano said Trump’s remarks voting by mail and his refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power is also sparking voter concerns. “So am I,” she added.

Mitrano was critical of the president’s plan to nominate and for the Republican-led Senate to confirm a successor to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “It’s hypocritical” for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to refuse to act on Merrick Garland’s nomination four years ago and then agree to push through a conservative Supreme Court nominee a month before this year’s presidential election.

She was also critical of Reed for not speaking out against the hypocrisy, instead deferring to the White House and McConnell.

The question to ask, said Mitrano, “Is what is this congressman really doing for me?”

On the tax cut issue, Mitrano noted the middle class is paying for the tax cuts for the 1%. “I have not seen that trickle-down effect,” she added.

The Democratic candidate said she was also concerned the country was not addressing the issues of police brutality affecting people of color.

“People want some accountability going forward,” she said. ”They want to see that someone is showing leadership and doing the right thing. The president is stirring the pot. Trump tries to divide our country.”

Trump says you are either with the police or with Black lives matter,” Mitrano said. “I saw a sign that said I support the police and Black lives matter. That’s the sign I want.”

Mitrano is expecting Reed’s campaign to continue to talk about her character. “That’s the wrong approach. Tom Reed will not talk about the issues because he ignored the issues.”