Republicans unveil new strategy to deal with town halls filled with angry voters

Democrats have a great opportunity here.

Congressman Mark Pocan has been doing it for years. Representative Ro Khanna is doing three of them this coming month. Bernie Sanders is doing it, too. We should all be reaching out to our members of the House and Senate to ask them to do the same.

I’m talking about elected Democrats traveling to Red districts (House members) or Red states (Senators) to hold town halls in those places where Republicans refuse to show their faces.

After all, Republicans are running in the other direction. As NBC News reports:

“House Republicans are becoming weary and wary of in-person town hall meetings after a number of lawmakers have faced hometown crowds angry about the Trump administration’s push to slash government programs and staffing.
“Party leaders suggest that if lawmakers feel the need to hold such events, they do tele-town halls or at least vet attendees to avoid scenes that become viral clips, according to GOP sources.
“A GOP aide said House Republican leaders are urging lawmakers to stop engaging in them altogether.”

There are 215 Democratic members of the House and 47 Democrats in the Senate: if even a quarter of them were to adopt this strategy, even once a month, it could turn around politics in America.

For years, Congressman Pocan has regaled my listeners on his regular “Middays With Mark” segments with stories about how his Republican colleagues in nearby districts generally refuse to do town halls. So, he goes into those districts and does them himself, much to the delight of local Democrats and the curiosity of local Republican voters.

Congressman Ro Khanna revealed last week on my program that he’s planning to do the same in two or three districts represented by “bashful” Republicans in California.

And Bernie Sanders has been absolutely kicking ass, traveling across Red states and drawing huge crowds, filling and selling out major venues, with his “anti-oligarchy” tour.

Senator Chuck Schumer recently bragged to reporters how he was learning how to do social media from a PowerPoint that Cory Booker put together. It’s a start, but why — if he’s truly a leader — isn’t he doing what Bernie is and visiting Red states to carry the Democrats’ message?

Similarly, House Leader Hakeem Jefferies told Rachel Maddow that he doesn’t need any more “steel” in his spine. But why isn’t he visiting Republican-controlled parts of America to let people trapped in the Fox “News”/rightwing-hate-radio bubble know what’s really happening?

When members of Congress visit their constituents and take questions, it’s almost always a newsworthy event, getting the kind of local coverage that you just can’t pay for. When a member from the opposite party drops in, it’s even more of a media event!

If you’re represented by Democrats in the House or Senate, call them now — at 202-224-3121 — to encourage them to visit Red areas to carry the message of our democracy under assault by the Trump/Musk MAGA movement.

On the other hand, if you’re represented by Republicans who refuse to visit their state or district to meet with voters, find a local venue (school auditoriums are generally easy to book) willing to host a town hall and tentatively set up a town hall for a visiting Democrat, then start reaching out to elected Democrats to find one who’ll come to town.

It’s so easy for members of Congress to settle into Washington, DC or take fancy junkets to the south of France, but this is a time of national emergency. Political theater is one of the few ways to break through media complacency — just look at the impact of the Tea Party when President Obama was talking about adding a Medicare buy-in to Obamacare — and this is political theater of the first degree.

It’s time to get active, and to encourage our reluctant, wary, or even lazy Democratic politicians to get with the program.

Our Founders fought and died for our nation; the least our elected officials can do is hop on a plane and answer an hour’s worth of questions.

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