Two congressional lawmakers, one Republican and one Democrat, from vastly different states fielded heated questions from constituents Tuesday night, with both in-person events seeing tensions running high as attendees expressed outrage over recent moves from both parties.
Reps. Mike Flood (R-NE) and Glenn Ivey (D-MD) held town hall meetings in their respective districts to address voters’ concerns. However, both events saw attendees shouting over each other and, at times, the lawmakers themselves.
One Ivey constituent yelled at the congressman, claiming the Democrat is “too calm” and that he should not be acting like “business as usual” in the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Flood had to repeatedly tell the crowd to “remain calm” and at one point attendees broke out into a chant of “tax the rich.”
During the first full recess week of the House and Senate since the GOP takeover, lawmakers have been met back home with plenty of questions from constituents about President Donald Trump and entrepreneur Elon Musk’s cost-cutting project through the Department of Government Efficiency.
Republicans have largely shied away from holding in-person town halls after several incidents of lawmakers being confronted by attendees made headlines. As a result, the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC), advised members to stop giving activists and Democratic operatives a platform to do so.
Activists, in particular the left-wing Indivisible group, have promoted the town halls as a way to push back on DOGE’s efforts. Republicans who have continued to hold them, such as Flood, have been met with several questions regarding DOGE and Trump’s efforts.
“Unpopular policy deserves scrutiny, and if Nebraskans are motivated to leave their homes and speak truth to power, they should be given the ability to do so directly as Rep. Flood allowed them to do this evening,” Kevin Gibbs, chairman of Indivisible Nebraska, a local chapter of the national group, told the Washington Examiner.
Democrats, meanwhile, have been attempting to flood the zone with town halls and protests targeting the cuts and budget proposals made by Trump and Republicans in recent weeks.
Flood sees town hall boil over
The Nebraska Republican saw his event erupt several times in shouting and protests as he attempted to make his case that reducing the federal deficit was the most important issue at hand.
During the town hall, which was held at Columbus High School, Flood was pressed by attendees several times over Musk’s role in the federal government, as well as a GOP budget proposal to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and reduce federal spending.
The proposal, which would require the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion in spending, has become a subject of angst after the Congressional Budget Office confirmed those cuts would need to include reductions to Medicare and Medicaid to meet the goal.
When asked about possible cuts to Medicaid, Flood pointed back to the federal deficit, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the deal — Here’s the deal that $36 trillion number, is not going away.”
“It is not going away unless we deal with Medicare and Medicaid. Let’s remain calm. Let’s remain calm,” Flood said over shouts from the crowd. “Let’s remain calm. And let me remind you, if you’re going to ask me a question, let me answer the question.”
Flood did assure attendees that cuts to Social Security were not on the table regarding Republicans’ plans for budget reconciliation. “Under the federal law, you cannot change anything in the law as it relates to Social Security and the reconciliation plan, the Senate parliamentarian would never approve it. The federal courts would never allow it. Any changes to Social Security are not on the table, and I will not cut your Social Security,” Flood said.
At one point, after Flood asked attendees how they could be against a balanced budget when the crowd interrupted his remarks, the room erupted into “tax the rich” chants.
“President Biden proposed a millionaire’s tax, and let me tell you, if it was enacted, it would raise $50 billion a year. That’s about 200 times less than what we need to address that. So even your proposal to tax the rich fails wholeheartedly,” Flood said.
The Main Street Caucus vice chairman was pressed multiple times about DOGE, including cuts to the federal government and its workforce, with one attendee describing the cuts as “brutal” and “cruel.”
Another attendee, who identified herself as a lawyer and a retired IRS employee, asked Flood why he was letting an “unelected person” make decisions regarding the federal workforce.
“If the process was being done correctly, we wouldn’t have for the hiring refire, firing rehiring, firing rehiring. There needs to be a thoughtful analysis of how we’re doing these cuts. Sure, there’s waste, but the way they’re going about it, they’re cutting people, and there’s no plan for transfer of knowledge,” the woman said.
In response to questions regarding Musk’s DOGE involvement and what he was doing “to stop the activities of unelected and unconfirmed Elon Musk,” Flood defended the process that Musk and Trump are using to identify waste in the federal government.
“I know you disagree with what Mr. Musk is doing. I know you disagree with the way this is rolling out, but this is the process that we are using to find waste, fraud, and abuse,” Flood said.
After multiple questions about the Tesla CEO, Flood boldly declared, “I support Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.”
Flood defended the president throughout the town hall as well, insisting that “by virtue of the fact that he’s the president, I intend to work with him.”
“I know there are some of you in this room that are very concerned about our 47th president, but let me tell you something, a great majority of Nebraskans and those in the 1st District voted to elect Donald Trump president in this state,” Flood said.
It’s unclear how many of the attendees at Flood’s identified politically, but the congressman opened his remarks by saying that he knew there were Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the room.
“I know that some of you in this room are emotional, and I know some of you in this room are concerned. I also know there are people in this room that feel very strongly in the opposite direction, that things are going the right direction,” Flood said during his opening remarks.
Indivisible Nebraska urged Nebraska Democrats to attend the event in a post to social media ahead of the town hall, saying it would be “great to have as many blue dots there as possible!”
Gibbs, the chairman of the local organization, told the Washington Examiner that the group did not track how many attendees were there because of their efforts, saying that the group’s goal is “to simply point our neighbors to places where their justifiable concerns can be effectively messaged to their respective representative in a way that does not belittle or dismiss their priorities.”
“We appreciate Rep. Flood being willing to hold such an event, even if we would also ask for additional events in municipalities like Lincoln to cover additional segments of his district,” Gibbs continued, before calling on other Nebraska lawmakers to also speak to their constituents.
Ivey frustrates constituents with 2026 projections who argue it ‘may be too late’
Compared to Republican town halls of late, constituents and Ivey were largely united when it came to discussions about Musk, DOGE, and Trump. The crowd at Maryland’s 4th Congressional District meeting at Suitland High School in Forestville cheered when Ivey spoke about subpoenaing Musk and protecting Medicaid in the coming budget fight.
But constituents began to turn on Ivey when he began answering multiple questions with the same answer: Democrats are in the minority, and they can’t do much until they take the House back in 2026. Several who spoke to the Washington Examiner said they did not come away with their concerns alleviated — in fact, all they heard was a campaign speech.
“‘I want to keep my job.’ That’s what I heard,” Sandra Hall, 58, of Capitol Heights said. “And the lady said it best, even though she was upset, when she said the House was on fire and nobody’s raising Cain: That was on point.”
The lady in reference was a distressed constituent who stood up as Ivey was answering questions, yelling at him for being “too calm” and shouting that people’s lives were in jeopardy. Her disturbance received more support from the crowd than the congressman’s own responses.
One common theme surrounded the town hall: People are desperate for a Democratic Party winning message. Many constituents who stepped up to the microphone expressed concerns that if Democrats wait to make change until 2026, it will “be too late” to undo any actions taken by Trump and the GOP.
“I came here to hear what my congressman is specifically doing,” one woman said.
“Career federal constituents overwhelmingly feel abandoned by their Democratic representatives,” a male constituent added. “We are not interested in hearing that you are in the minority. We know that. We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic ways.”
One female constituent, who was granted anonymity due to her current position as an employed federal worker, told the Washington Examiner she was not leaving the town hall satisfied and it speaks to the problems Democrats have as a whole.
“I have no confidence, definitely in Republicans, but the Democrats? The people who you think you can go to, like, they will listen to you get something done for us — we don’t hear them. We’re not hearing them,” she said.
She added that she thinks Ivey was doing the “best he can” but was frustrated that, as a federal worker, she did not hear the congressman’s plans to stop DOGE from conducting the sweeping federal layoffs other than deferring to court battles and hoping things change in the next election cycles.
“Concretely, I haven’t heard anything about what he can do for us. He talked about voting in 2026, 2028. … Wwe came out here to find out, what can we do so that we can save our jobs?” she said.
Ivey said in a post-town hall interview with the Washington Examiner that he thought the town hall was successful despite some of the high-strung emotions in the crowd, once again invoking 2026.
“It’s important to understand that people have a right to be angry in this instance because they are being mistreated. …The key for me is to make sure that we hear it and then figure out how to use it and redirect it so they can make a difference. We can win in 2026; if we have a chance to win some of these upcoming votes, we can do that too.”
When asked about the frustrations with him leaning heavily on 2026, Ivey said the point of having a “concrete plan” right now is to prepare for the 2026 election.
“We got to look to the forward, look to the next big election too, but we need to win in the interim as well,” Ivey said, pointing to the importance of last week’s spending deal vote and coming budget resolution fight.
The Maryland Democrat earned loud applause when he said he thought Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should be removed from his post.
“I respect Chuck Schumer. I think he’s had a great, long-standing career, but I’m afraid it may be time for Senate Democrats to choose a new leader,” the congressman said.
But Hall said it might be time for a new leader in Maryland’s 4th District as well.
“You got to connect with the people on their level,” Hall said. “You can’t be up here and looking down and talking to people because that doesn’t help anything. So, you need to come and talk to them like like — you used to be them. You weren’t always in your position. You were here at one point. … He’s got to change his voice. Maybe he’s been in that seat too long.”
