Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) probably felt he was pretty safe having town meetings this week, since he actually came out of the gates Saturday with a very strong statement on Charlottesville, tweeting "Mr. President - we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism." He did get credit for that at his meetings, but that's about all, because what was on his constituents' minds was his vote to take away their health care.
While Gardner’s constituents in this purple state applauded him for his swift and strong condemnation of white supremacist groups this weekend, he was interrupted by boos and jeers of “shame” and was called a “liar” as he defended his support for health care legislation that would have significantly scaled back Obamacare and Medicaid. One attendee at the town hall here, held at Colorado Christian University in a Denver-area suburb, was escorted out by police after repeatedly shouting, “Why are you taking away health care?”
“This was so partisan in what you came up with,” said Scott McLean, a 63-year-old who said he pays roughly $830 in premiums each month for an Obamacare plan.
“You didn’t even have a woman on the panel,” McLean said, referring to the 13-member, all-male working group tasked with drafting the Senate’s original repeal legislation. The comment drew a standing ovation from the roughly 400-person crowd in Greeley, the second of Gardner's three town halls on Tuesday.
Gardner is up for re-election in 2020. I think it's pretty darned likely he's not going to be pushing for any more Obamacare repeal votes in the Senate.