House Republicans are being urged to skip in-person town hall events because they are being taken over by “Democrat activists,” party leaders said on Tuesday.
NBC News journalist Melanie Zanona posted to X on Tuesday that Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), confirmed to her that he advised colleagues to eschew in-person town hall events in favor of tele-town halls or Facebook Live discussions.
“Unfortunately, in-person town halls are no longer effective because Democrat activists are threatening democracy by disrupting the actual communication at town halls,” Hudson reportedly said. “They need to use technology to reach more constituents.”
Some House Republicans have been confronted at recent town hall events by people raising concerns about the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort led by Elon Musk.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump warned: “Paid ‘troublemakers’ are attending Republican Town Hall Meetings. It is all part of the game for the Democrats, but just like our big LANDSLIDE ELECTION, it’s not going to work for them!”
Trump won the White House in the 2024 presidential election while Republicans maintained a narrow grip on the House and secured a slim majority in the Senate.
Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram offered some historical context about the town hall clashes in a post to X:
Republicans have been hammered at some town halls over cuts to DOGE. This is similar to a tactic which Republicans deployed in the summer of 2009 to torch Democrats over Obamacare – as they tried to hold the House. The approach was seemingly successful as each day yielded intense video of angry people yelling at Democrats and chasing them out of meetings. The scenes we are seeing now are not quite as electric. But similar. Republicans then won back the House in the 2010 midterms, flipping a record 63 seats.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took a swipe at House Republicans over the news about them being encouraged to steer clear of in-person town hall events.
“House Republicans have just been ordered to stop holding Town Hall meetings,” Jeffries said in a post on X. “They can run from their extreme agenda. We will never let them hide.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) echoed the view that House Republicans should avoid holding in-person town hall events and instead use technology to engage with voters or meet with “small subgroups” of industry or their respective communities.
“Democrat activists who don’t live in the district very often will show up for these town hall events, and they’ll go in an hour early and fill all the seats, and so the constituents and the people from the community that are actually represented don’t even get a seat,” Johnson said.
He added later, “There are people who do this as a profession. They’re professional protesters. So why would we give them a forum to do that right now? The best thing that our members can do is communicate directly, frequently, consistently with their constituents and there are other avenues to do it than just doing in to try to give the other side sound bites.”
