Last month, Rep. Dave Brat from Virginia’s 7th Congressional District loudly complained to attendees at a tea party meeting that “The women are in my grill no matter where I go. They come up, and say, ‘When’s your next town hall?’” His constituents got that town hall last night, at a small private restaurant approximately 100 miles from his most populous base. Of course rural areas deserve meetings with their representatives, but in this particularly charged political year, Republicans nationwide are scattering to the furthest points of their districts and opting to hold last-minute events, often only advertised in the print edition of small, local newspapers.
Last night Dave Brat discovered that many of his constituents made the one-hour drive to attend his town hall. While he should be congratulated for holding a town hall while more than 200 of his Republican colleagues went into their bunkers, he came off as arrogant and condescending. The Washington Post has the highlights (and lowlights) of Rep. Brat’s town hall and interviews with the passionate attendees:
“The problem is Obamacare has just collapsed,” said Brat, who stood at a podium in the Blackstone Herb Cottage, a restaurant and event space. The crowd shouted in response “No, it has not!”
Many wanted to prove they were not “paid activists” and were real, live, angry constituents:
Another sign said, “This grandmother drove 165 miles to be in your grill, Mr. Brat and no one paid me to be here!” — a nod to a comment Brat made to a Richmond paper in which he dismissed protesters as “paid activists.”
Brat managed to get off a quip about climate change—because denying clear, uncontested science is hilarious, right?
Blackstone Mayor Billy Coleburn acted as an emcee, reading written questions collected from the crowd. Asked “Do you deny climate change?” Brat said “No, the climate changes all the time.” His apparent attempt at levity angered the crowd, prompting some to yell “Answer the question!”
Dave Brat won his seat in one of the biggest congressional upsets of all time when he beat Eric Cantor in 2014, the former House Majority Leader. Based on the reactions and energy of the constituents in the video below, if Dave Brat gets a solid challenger, he too could be in for an upset in 2018. Get to it, Virginia!