“A G.O.P. Congressman Faced His Voters. It Wasn’t Pretty.” [New York Times]

He was decried for voting for the largest cut to Medicaid and food assistance in American history, called a liar, and pressed on shielding Jeffrey Epstein.

The raucous town hall in deep-red NE-01 is an indication of the American people’s overwhelming hatred of the Big, Ugly Law – and why Republican leadership is struggling to get their most vulnerable Members to defend their vote.

The New York Times reports that of the 35 DCCC-targeted Republicans, just one – Bryan Steil – has held an in-person town hall event since passage. “He, too, was booed and jeered,” the Times points out.

And despite attempting to hide from meeting their voters in person,, “concerns over the bill and the economy appear to be so widespread that they cannot be screened out — even in the controlled environment of tele-town halls.”

For example, in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, freshman Republican Ryan Mackenzie was peppered with criticism for his vote during a tele-town hall meeting: “You and other MAGA talk about monitoring and cutting welfare for poor people, but you don’t talk about the high tax breaks that overwhelmingly help the rich people.”

DCCC Spokesperson Justin Chermol:
“As GOP leaders are trying to press-gang their vulnerable members to peddle the most hated law of the 21st century back home, the so-called moderates are doing what they do best: ducking their constituents in person and running scared. No wonder – a new poll from Fox News shows voters overwhelmingly despise the Big, Ugly Law.”

• Representative Mike Flood, Republican of Nebraska, was not even 30 seconds into his prepared introduction at a town hall in Lincoln on Monday evening when the booing and the jeering began. Then it didn’t let up for over an hour.
• “There’s been a lot of misinformation out there about the bill,” Mr. Flood told a crowd of more than 700 people gathered in a downtown recital hall, referring to President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy legislation that significantly cuts Medicaid, food benefits and other programs.
• “You are a liar!” multiple people shouted back. “Liar! Liar!”
• Earlier this year, Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, the chairman of the House Republican campaign arm, discouraged members from holding in-person town halls such as this. He said the sessions were being filled with Democratic activists, generated negative headlines, and that a better way to communicate with voters was to hold telephone town halls where questions could be filtered by a moderator.
• Many House Republicans have taken his advice. Of the 35 House Republicans who hold seats that Democrats are targeting in 2026, only one, Representative Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, has held an in-person town hall. (He, too, was booed and jeered.)
• But the concerns over the bill and the economy appear to be so widespread that they cannot be screened out — even in the controlled environment of tele-town halls.
• An attendee at a recent tele-town hall told Representative Ryan Mackenzie, a vulnerable Republican from Pennsylvania: “You and other MAGA talk about monitoring and cutting welfare for poor people, but you don’t talk about the high tax breaks that overwhelmingly help the rich people.”
• And Representative Eli Crane, a hard-right Republican from Arizona, was confronted by a constituent on a tele-town hall who said he was “concerned” that the bill added “significantly to the national debt” while cutting health care benefits.
• Mr. Trump, for his part, is not doing any marketing of his own bill. “It’s been received so well, I don’t think I have to,” he said on “Meet the Press” when asked why he was not doing events to promote his own agenda.
• A memo from the National Republican Campaign Committee released last week encouraged members to focus on how the bill made the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent and cut taxes on tips. In offering advice to members on how to get their message out to voters, it notably did not recommend holding in-person town halls.

###