Republicans have been ducking out of town halls for over a month now—a sometimes hilarious and often cowardly spectacle that’s drawn both local and national headlines. But lurking beneath the surface of those stories is the lesser noticed trend of Republican representatives who are entirely ignoring their constituents.
In fact, with Congress in recess next week and most GOP members returning to their districts, the Republican party was desperate to escape the embarrassing interactions.
Following Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s jaw-dropping face off with a throng of feisty constituents yelling “Do your job!” the GOP finally settled on uniformly dismissing town halls as dangerous and pointless events.
“This organized mob has displayed hostile, violent, and deliberately disruptive behavior,” the party wrote of the Indivisible movement, “it hijacks town hall meetings to prevent any type of meaningful discussion.” Instead of in-person town halls, the party is now recommending holding tele-town halls and more controlled meetings with smaller groups of constituents. Indeed, the Town Hall Project says just 19 Republican members have scheduled town halls for next week.
That’s particularly convenient for a group of GOP lawmakers I’m loosely referring to as the Clinton 24—two dozen Republican members who hold seats in districts where Clinton beat or tied Trump (see the list at the end of this post). Many of them have been stonewalling constituents ever since the election and now they simply have the perfect excuse to continue doing so.
Based on a little googling, my research of the Clinton 24 shows that 19 members have faced protests and/or petition efforts of some sort this year, at least a dozen are outright blocking constituent contact, and just a handful have actually held or scheduled some type of in-person town hall or meeting.
Take the Southern California contingent of Steve Knight (CA-25), Ed Royce (CA-39), Mimi Walters (CA-45), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-48) and Darrell Issa (CA-49). Voters in all five districts have worked to secure town halls since January, with little-to-no success. Here’s an excerpt from a report on a Feb. 1 demonstration:
Protesters seeking to express opposition to the immigration and travel ban, and other actions taken by President Donald Trump, have received less-than-welcome responses from people at the district offices of U.S. Representatives Dana Rohrabacher and Mimi Walters.
On Tuesday, property managers at Rohrabacher’s Huntington Beach office called police. And later that day protesters outside Walters’ office in Irvine were locked out.
Protesters have appeared at both offices, and at the office for Rep. Darrell Issa, several times in recent days. In at least one visit to Issa's office, a representative met with small groups to discuss the immigration and travel ban.
No arrests were made in Huntington Beach. Why police were called remains an open question.
Interestingly, Issa came within a hair’s breadth of losing his seat last November, which likely makes his staff slightly more amenable to meeting with voters. Modesto’s Jeff Dehham (CA-10), who also encountered stiff headwinds last fall, has similarly made himself more available. And Steve Knight appears to be coming around, scheduling a March 4 town hall after originally saying he didn’t have time due to this year’s “heavy legislative schedule” (as if Republicans have been pumping out the legislation).
Rohrabacher, on the other hand, is now claiming that one of his staff members was “mobbed” by protesters who attempted to deliver him Valentine’s Day cards on Tuesday. The staffer fell down and was reportedly treated by paramedics after what appears to have been an accident. No arrests were made. Indivisible OC posted pictures of the action, which shows none of “thuggery” Rohrabacher has suggested.
But Rohrabacher’s combative approach—repeatedly calling the police on peaceful demonstrators—has proven to be the preference of many Clinton 24 representatives.
Arizona Rep. Martha McSally (AZ-02) called one town hall invitation a “political ambush,” New York Rep. John Katko (NY-24) said he wouldn’t let Indivisible "hijack” and “disrupt meaningful engagement,” Illinois Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06) has repeatedly stonewalled constituents, as has Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03). Paulsen’s continued absence led one group, West Side Progressives, to do what many voters are doing: hold a “With or Without Him” event on Feb. 23.
Other serial GOP filibusterers include: Reps. Pat Meehan (PA-07), Barbara Comstock (VA-10), and David Reichert (WA-08).
Republicans have widely disparaged and delegitimized the Indivisible movement’s outpouring of grassroots energy as the outgrowth of professional organizing and “paid protesters.”
Their blatant disdain for constituents who simply wish to make their concerns known to their elected representatives is shameless. For many of those constituents, access to basic health care hangs in the balance. But now that Republicans have assumed total control of the federal government, they will let no one perform a check on their power—least of all, voters.
They have turned from obstructing their Democratic counterparts in Congress to obstructing their constituents. Who can blame them? They didn’t have any answers for eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, and now that they’ve been handed the reins, they still don’t.
Let them continue on their merry way. The voters will issue their response in 2018.
The Clinton 24
1. Martha McSally, AZ-02, Clinton
2. Jeff Denham, CA-10, Clinton
3. David Valadao, CA-21, Clinton
4. Steve Knight, CA-25, Clinton,
5. Ed Royce, CA-39, Clinton
6. Mimi Walters, CA-45, Clinton
7. Dana Rohrabacher, CA-48, Clinton
8. Darrell Issa, CA-49, Clinton
9. Mike Coffman, CO-06, Clinton
10. Carlos Curbelo, FL-26, Clinton
11. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL-27, Clinton
12. Peter Roskam, IL-06, Clinton
13. Kevin Yoder, KS-03, Clinton
14. Erik Paulsen, MN-03, Clinton
15. Leonard Lance, NJ-07, Clinton
16. John Katko, NY-24, Clinton
17. Ryan Costello, PA-06, Clinton
18. Pat Meehan, PA-07, Clinton
19. *Brian Fitzpatrick, PA-08, (Tossup, C: 48%, T: 48.2%)
20. John Culberson, TX-07, Clinton
21. Will Hurd, TX-23, Clinton
22. Pete Sessions, TX-32, Clinton
23. Barbara Comstock, VA-10, Clinton
24. David Reichert, WA-08, Clinton
