GOP lawmakers booed at town halls defend hosting events despite advice from leaders
House Republicans who faced hostile crowds and viral confrontations at town halls in their districts are defending their decision to hold the events — despite recommendations from House GOP leaders to avoid them.
“I think that was able to show folks that Republicans can and should stand our ground,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said.
Edwards, at his Ashville town hall last week, faced boos and a swarm of protesters who were angry about his support for President Trump, and about cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“I went toe-to-toe with the progressive left, all 12 rounds. I believe that there were some media vehicles out there that helped me communicate effectively the things that we were doing. … I would certainly do it again,” Edwards told The Hill in an interview.
House Republican leaders had warned members earlier this month that coordinated activists and protesters would derail the events, and argued that members could reach more constituents and voters with live-streamed or tele-town halls instead.
Protests are exactly what happened at the town halls for several Republicans who chose to face in-person crowds during a week-and-a-half break from Washington, with progressive groups like Indivisible and local Democratic groups encouraging activists to turn up at the events.
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), despite calling for civility at the start of the event and talking about his focus on the national debt, also faced boos at a raucous town hall this week. In addition to concerns about Musk and DOGE, attendees accused him of not doing enough to support Ukraine, though Flood noted that he voted for previous aid packages to Ukraine and his belief that the country should not give any land to Russia.
Flood told The Hill that he had already planned to host a town hall before leaders advised them not to, and did not want to go back on that despite expecting pushback from a “vocal minority.”
“I think even those folks that disagree with my position, there's value in them having the chance to tell their member of Congress what they think and to watch me listen and then have me respond,” Flood said.
And the congressman found the event valuable himself.
“The most valuable thing I took away from the 90 minutes was there were a lot of questions about the Veterans Administration,” Flood said, adding that he is planning to sit down with the House Veterans’ Affairs chairman, visit the VA hospital in his district, and build more relationships with those who can help with veterans’ issues. “It was on my radar, but not the way it's going to be, because there was a real focus on veterans’ issues.”
Utah Republican Reps. Celeste Maloy and Mike Kennedy also faced a hostile crowd at a joint town hall this week. Local reporters at KUTV documented attendees disrupting, booing and flashing their middle fingers.
“When the political temperature is hot, I don't think the solution is to stop engaging with constituents,” Maloy said in a statement. “I am willing to have tough conversations on issues that are hardly ever black and white. I want to continue doing town halls, and I'm willing to show up and listen and answer questions. I hope the public will keep engaging as we move forward together.”
In Asheville, Edwards got questions about the Trump administration’s firing of federal workers. At one point, a veteran — who, the congressman noted, ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2022 — shouted at Edwards and was escorted out of the event.
Edwards said that while the advice from leadership was “well-intentioned,” he felt it was important to hold the town hall in part to talk about relief efforts from the hurricane that devastated his district last year — but also because he is proud of what Republicans are doing.
“We should not shy away from talking about those accomplishments. We should stand out front and be very proud of them, help eliminate some of the misinformation in the rumor that's out there, even if we know that we're going to get some disagreement,” Edwards said.
It was not only Republicans whose town halls got rocked over the recess period. Progressive activists also confronted Democratic lawmakers at the recess events. Police shut down an event for Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) after a clash with pro-Palestinian attendees.
Republicans who braved the crowds at in-person town halls were overwhelmingly in safe red districts, with little risk of the viral confrontations directly affecting their reelection chances.
One of those is Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who pushed back on a booing crowd and defended DOGE at another town hall this week. Tim Murtaugh, an advisor to Hageman, noted in a statement that both Trump and the congresswoman were elected with support of around 70 percent of the voters in the state.
“The people of Wyoming quite obviously support Trump and Hageman, but Democrat partisans are trying to create the illusion that there’s some sort of popular uprising happening. Newsflash: there’s not,” Murtaugh said, adding: “The spectacles at these town halls are astroturf — they’re meant to create viral moments and news stories just like this one.”
Those viral moments and news stories are certainly frustrating to Republicans nationwide, though, as activists seek to keep the pressure up in the public square and seek to portray what Trump and Republicans are doing as deeply unpopular.
Even vulnerable members who avoid in-person confrontations may not avoid bad press. The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats’ campaign arm, launched an effort to host “People’s Town Halls” in competitive districts with Republican lawmakers.
While Flood and Edwards both stand by hosting their in-person town halls, both of them said that the decision to host a town hall is up to each member and how they think they can most effectively represent their district. But Flood said a lack of town halls does not mean a lack of engagement.
“It doesn't matter if they're having town halls or not. I mean, they're showing up to nursing homes and they're being protested,” Flood said. “They're encountering and engaging people that are protesting them wherever they go.”
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