A House Republican town hall began and ended in chaos Tuesday night as angry protesters jeered for over an hour in a small Midwestern city and accused Republicans of trying to gut critical government programs.
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., was the only House GOP lawmaker whose office set up an in-person town hall this week while Congress is in recess – and left-wing groups appear to have seized on the opportunity to disrupt.
The event kicked off on a contentious note just minutes after an opening prayer, with the moderator’s first audience question accusing President Donald Trump and Flood of not supporting the ‘rule of law.’ The crowd repeatedly booed any mention of Elon Musk or the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with Flood having to stop and plead for calm multiple times.
At one point protesters could be heard shouting, ‘Tax the rich.’
Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Fleming Kleeb posted on X, showing the number of people heading to Flood’s town hall minutes after it began. She said state Democratic Party operatives ‘are on site if you need an action handout of things you can do beyond the town hall!’
Meanwhile, progressive groups MoveOn and Indivisible advertised a ‘volunteer-organized event,’ titled, ‘Musk or Us: Demand Mike Flood Fight Back!’
The time and place listed matched Flood’s Tuesday night town hall. The event lasted roughly an hour and a half with little reprieve for the congressman as people peppered him with questions and the crowd jeered him during answers.
During the open mic portion of the event, a woman noted that Flood’s wife fought breast cancer and said her own sister died of the disease, before telling him, ‘You decided to capitulate your job of monitoring the funding of places that do research for breast cancer.’
‘I would like to know how you, personally, stomach that decision,’ she asked as the crowd applauded.
Flood said he supported medical research funding, and that while he was not aware of any such pause, DOGE was reviewing funds on a case-by-case basis as part of its mission to reduce the national debt. However, even mentioning Musk or DOGE set off the crowd inside Columbus High School’s auditorium, and Flood had to raise his voice and repeat himself several times at points as protesters grew louder.
‘How can you be against a balanced budget?’ an exasperated Flood asked the crowd.
After the event, Fox News Digital observed discussions on the message board site Reddit urging people to go protest Flood. One user posted on a Nebraska-focused message board, ‘I highly implore District 1 residents to make the drive and come out to make your voices heard.’
In response to another commenter noting the event was scheduled to last an hour, the same initial user replied, ‘That’s a whole hour’s worth of booing him and his stupid idea that he’ll get the support of his precious hometown.’
In a separate thread about the town hall, another user posted, ‘S— man isn’t even in my district, but I’m considering going up there.’
Flood’s decision to host a town hall in person comes in apparent defiance of House Republican leaders’ guidance to refrain from such face-to-face events, given the intense uptick in protests – both planned and unplanned.
The majority of House Republicans have transitioned to holding tele-town halls, which the lawmakers have defended as a more productive and controlled environment.
Several have cited issues of safety for their staff, with mobs at in-person constituent events growing raucous at times.
Meanwhile, left-wing groups that had been urging people to protest at GOP town halls are now taking advantage of the change in strategy, and have pushed activists to hold mock town halls with empty chairs representing lawmakers who in some cases were not even invited.
Prominent Democrats like Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have also seized on the vacuum to hold their own events in Republican districts.