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Reporting from the Associated Press discovered that during the April district work period, vulnerable House Republicans across the country took the two weeks back home in their districts to… hide from their constituents.
After House Republicans faced outrage and anger from voters the last time they were home in March, the most endangered among them decided to obey orders from their leaders in D.C. to not hold in-person town halls, depriving the people they were elected to represent a chance to let their voices be heard.
In the AP’s report, it was revealed that Republican efforts to hide from the public included refusing to hold in-person town halls, only publicizing events AFTER they occurred, and even turning off their phone lines at their district offices.
DCCC Spokesperson Viet Shelton:
“Republicans are running scared and they should be after they broke their promises to lower costs. They are so afraid of facing their constituents, they can’t even fulfill their most basic job duty: meet the people you represent in person. If you no longer believe it’s worth your time to listen to the people who elected you, then you no longer deserve the job.”
Read more from the Associated Press below.
Associated Press: Republicans in the toughest swing districts become hard to find for people angry about Trump
Steve Peoples, Thomas Beaumont | April 28, 2025
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The U.S. House is ending a 17-day recess, typically known as a district work period, in which members of Congress return home to focus on their constituents. But some of the most vulnerable Republicans limited their potential exposure to the potential backlash from President Donald Trump’s first months in office.
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[Scott] Perry, who won reelection last fall by about 5,000 votes, is one of the 10 most vulnerable House Republicans, as measured by their margins of victory last fall. The[se Republicans] were especially hard to find during the recess, though it was difficult to verify many of the public schedules due to the inconsistent responses from their offices.
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None of them, a collection of swing-district conservatives from across Arizona, Colorado, California, Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, hosted in-person events that were open to the public.
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“They’re publicly elected officials. They ought to be accessible to the public,” Republican voter Robert Barton, a 57-year-old civil engineer, said as he waited for his lunch at Italian Delight Pizzeria across the street from Perry’s office in Mechanicsburg.
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The Democratic National Committee, backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, organized labor and other progressive groups in some states, has launched dozens of “People’s Town Halls” and “Good Trouble” events in districts where Republicans will not hold public events.
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Democrats are betting their strategy will give them an advantage in the 2026 election, when control of Congress will be decided for the last two years of Trump’s final term. Historically, the party that holds the White House loses seats in these midterms. And as of now, Republicans would lose the House majority if they lose a net of just two seats.
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Mariannette Miller-Meeks is an Iowa Republican who won last fall by 799 votes, the closest U.S. House election won by a Republican in the country last year. […] Like the other House Republicans in the nation’s most-competitive districts, she held no events open to all constituents, nor had any planned for the remainder of the break, which ended Sunday.
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Some voters have taken notice.
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Tim Shollenberger, a Mechanicsburg resident who was a registered Republican until recently, struggled to be heard during Perry’s April 2 tele-town hall. […] “If you really care about the views of your constituents, get in a room and face them,” Shollenberger said.
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