Democratic Holdovers in an Undemocratic System
Town hall meetings are a relic of a different age.
The HuffPost report “Alabama Republican Booed Out Of Town Hall While Attempting To Defend Trump” reminded me to write about something that’s been on my mind a bit the last few days.
The Republican in question is Barry Moore, who has been in the House since 2021 and is currently running for the Senate seat that will be vacated by Tommy Tuberville, who in turn is a shoo-in for Governor, having won the Republican primary. The report describes a raucous event, the details of which don’t much concern me.
It brought to mind the August 18 episode of The Daily podcast, “Republican Town Halls Turned Ugly. One Congressman Kept Doing Them Anyway.” The one Congressman is Mike Flood of Nebraska.
What’s noteworthy is that, as Members getting shouted down at these events became routine, Republican leadership told them to simply stop having the meetings. Flood, and apparently Moore, defied that suggestion.
Flood comes across as incredibly earnest in the conversation. Here’s how he describes a particular exchange, where he was ridiculed for saying he didn’t know a particular provision in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill (which was removed in conference) was in it:
The only way through that, though, is to tell them the truth. And you know what? I slept better that night than I had in a long time because I didn’t blink. And as mad as people are and as much as people can get upset about that, isn’t that kind of what they also want? They want you to stand up. They want you to be there.
One thing I’d add here — that exchange right there is the reason why politicians on both sides of the aisle don’t want to do town halls because these things are real. They’re raw, and they are as accountable as anything else in America.
Later, asked by host Michael Barbaro what the value is in going to the most Democratic city in a heavily Republican district to get booed and jeered, he responded thusly:
[T]here’s value because I think it’s cathartic for the people that are so upset, and I get something out of it. People don’t realize when you’re standing on stage and everybody’s looking at you.
I see people that maybe are upset about the One Big, Beautiful Bill, but they are with me on Ukraine, and I see that in the non-verbal. I see people that are worried about the future of democracy, and they are smiling when I say, fascists don’t hold town halls. There’s a communication back and forth that only the elected official gets to see when you’re talking to a crowd of people that are upset.
Had I not done a town hall in Lincoln, it would have been a slap in the face to my biggest city in my district. And before each town hall, I go out and shake the people’s hands coming in. Chris Christie says it’s hard to hate up close, right?
So I go up and I shake everybody’s hands. And I get a lot of feedback. But one of the things I heard a couple times when I was shaking people’s hands was, thanks for realizing that we’re in Nebraska, too. And at first I was like, what are they talking about? And it’s easy to go to these rural communities where there’s more Republicans.
And as somebody who grew up in a Small Town, I felt that way before. Am I really part of Nebraska? Isn’t all this just about Omaha and Lincoln? And so to have people from Lincoln say, thanks for coming here and doing it here, we’re in Nebraska, too.
While Flood is a hard-core Trump supporter, he nonetheless seems to understand that he represents the 40 percent of his constituents who voted against him, too. Which is all very sweet.
Still, while I applaud his gumption and wholesome attitude, I actually disagree with him on the value of town halls. People who show up at these events are, almost by definition, an incredibly unrepresentative sample of the constituency. While it may be wonderfully cathartic for people who disagree with their Congressman to get to go yell at him, there are better mechanisms for staying in touch with the people back home.
Flood is in his third term. He won his first election 53-47 (in a special election after the longtime Republican incumbent was forced to resign after a felony conviction), his second 58-42, and his most recent 60-40, winning every county in the district. Moore is also in his third term. He won with 65.2%, 69%, and 78.4% of the vote (the last after court-ordered redistricting).
I get why Moore, who is trying to secure the Republican nomination for Senate (and thus, in all likelihood, the seat), needs to make public appearances of this sort. It makes no sense whatsoever for Flood to do so. Regardless, in both cases, those screaming and booing are almost certainly people who were never going to vote for them.
Alabama has seven Congressional districts. After the court-ordered redistricting, both the 2nd and 7th are almost guaranteed to be held by Black Democrats. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th are so heavily Republican that no Democrat ran in the most recent cycle. The 1st (Moore’s) and 6th attracted Democratic candidates, who attracted 21.5% and 29.6% of the vote, respectively.
Nebraska has three CDs. The 1st (Flood’s) has been held by a Republican for all but one term (the disastrous 1964 cycle) since 1939. The 2nd has been mostly held by Republicans since 1943, but elections tend to be relatively close, and Democrats have won a handful of times. The 3rd has been held by a Republican for all but two years (1959-61) since 1935. It has been a long time since the Republican got less than 70% of the vote.
I honestly don’t understand why any Alabama Congressman or any but Nebraska’s 2nd CD Congressman would subject themselves to the spectacle. While they have a responsibility to do constituent service for those in their district regardless of party, those who showing up to boo at town hall events are wildly unrepresentative.
Not long ago, they at least served some symbolic purpose. But the parties are so polarized right now, sorted on just about every issue, that there is no respectful discourse to be had. Those who support their Representative’s policies have no reason to show up. And those who oppose are almost certainly wildly angry. Given that satisfying those voters would almost guarantee losing re-nomination, what’s the point?
Keep the tradition of holding town hall meetings and remember George Washington was right about the dangers of political parties!
I disagree with you. I think there is a value for a democratic representative to witness the visceral impact of his work on different elements of his constituency. Life is not just a poll with cross tabs. I assume there are plenty of parts of his district where he is regularly feted as a hero. If he can go there, he can come here. And he did.
By contrast, what a terrible look for Barry Moore. He turned tail on his own constituents and left out the back door. Just wow.
@Joe:
I’m with @Joe. Why show up? Because it’s their job.
Bernie Moreno got (verbally) pummeled at the City Club of Cleveland, so now the Ohio Republican Party is recommending Republicans no longer go there.
@Michael Reynolds: I don’t think there’s anything in the job description requiring being yelled at by randos.
@James Joyner:
It’s an implicit, not explicit, part of this particular type of job.
I worked as a congressional intern, and getting yelled at by randos is par for the course. Whether you’re answering the phones or opening mail, it’s there. If you go to a town hall, guess what, those are your constituents and you represent them.
ALL OF THEM.
The ones who like you and the ones who don’t. The ones that are clearly bonkers and the ones who bankroll your campaigns. All of them.
Now, if they get dangerous (and this can be a tough to determine, the line between kook and possible assailant is pretty thin), that’s not cool.
Republicans should be getting pushback from their constituents. This makes far more sense than the “but why aren’t Democrats doing anything” nonsense.
@James Joyner:
Those randos are voters, taxpayers and US citizens. And those pols are servants of those people, their employees. They’re damned near useless, so getting yelled at may be the closest they come to actually doing anything.
@Jen: @Michael Reynolds: The thing is, these guys are going to win re-election in a landslide. Their voters are overwhelmingly happy.
James,
I’m with Joe and Michael on this. Yes, I’m sure it’s not fun or enjoyable for the politician to get yelled at. Too fucking bad, dealing with constituents is part of the job.
The alternative of retreating to an ideological safe zone is even worse – it just reinforces the already significant and systemic problem of groupthink and tribalism. We should encourage more of what Moore and Flood are doing, rather than actively discouraging it IMO.
@James Joyner: I’m sure they are, as was the case in both the congressional office I worked in (in Ohio) and the State Senate office I worked in. That does not detract at all from the fact that once you are elected, you’re supposed to serve all of your constituents, not act as a partisan mouthpiece for the President and his lackeys.
I also wouldn’t be so certain that it’s going to be smooth sailing for any Republican. Sen. Ernst’s decision not to run for reelection and the news that internal polling shows Sen. Collins in trouble doesn’t really bode well. The President’s policies are broadly underwater in recent polling. Assuming he doesn’t pick a war with someone as a pretext to not have elections next year, Republicans might have a tough time of it, despite the gerrymandering shenanigans.
Elected local officials and HOA board members also get yelled at during meetings with their constituents and community members, but that’s part of the job (or volunteer position), and it can be informing and even constructive. As for congressional town halls, the clips I’ve seen of audience members shouting have generally been in response to objective falsehoods, positions for which there’s bipartisan disagreement (e.g., congressman says 2A is absolute, although significant numbers of independents and Republicans support stricter gun laws), or abandonment of traditional Republican positions in favor of MAGA bootlicking (e.g., undermining support to Ukraine and emboldening our adversary).
These weak Republicans [all of them] can’t handle the people in the real world. They’re so incompetent they can only exist in their tiny bubble of safe spaces because they have completely lost the battle of ideas.
As with all things in The Make-Believe World that Republicans have retreated to, this is the exact accusation they’ve been aiming at liberals for decades. EAIAC isn’t just for your next forum reply.
Just one example of how they have lost badly… Each and every time you hear someone complain about “PC Culture” – nope, that’s just culture. [The complaint is that they are getting pushback for their terrible ideas.]
The real reason Republicans hold town halls is because they keep holding out a fantasy belief/hope that they’ve Cracked The Code and now, finally, now(!) they’ll get that actual scintilla of respect and admiration from liberals that their momma says they’ve always deserved.