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Democrats ramp up town halls in GOP districts

7 20
30.03.2025

House Democrats are ramping up their aggressive strategy of conducting town halls in Republican-held districts, vying to exploit the GOP’s advised moratorium on the events to make inroads with frustrated voters, pick up battleground seats, and flip control of the House in next year’s midterms.

A number of Democrats who ventured this month into GOP territory said they liked what they saw: anxious voters who are up in arms over both President Trump's dismantling of the federal government and the reluctance of the majority Republicans to provide a check on executive power.

Encouraged by their experiences, Democrats say they not only intend to return to those battleground districts, they're also eyeing plans to broaden their range in the weeks and months to come. The Democrats' campaign arms, in some cases, are helping to coordinate the effort.

"People are mad — they're mad and fearful that their health care might be taken away. That's the thing that I heard the most,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who recently staged town halls in three California districts held by Republican lawmakers — Reps. Ken Calvert, Young Kim and David Valadao — where he estimated crowds of roughly 1,000 people.

“It was just frustration of: What are you going to do to stop this?”

Khanna acknowledged that the crowds were made up largely of Democrats and independents who reside in those purple districts. “But they're angry and mobilized,” he said.

“And if you have 1,000 people in your district that are angry and mobilized like that — and knocking on doors and ready to get people out — that should be a huge red flag for these Republicans.”

Khanna is hardly alone.

In Wisconsin, Rep. Mark Pocan (D) has already staged two town halls in the neighboring district held by GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden, and a third just outside of it, with plans to do more.

Rep. Alexandria........

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