Democrats Take Fight to Red Districts as Republicans Shirk Town Halls

The Washington Post

12:54 JST, April 26, 2025

THORNTON, Colo. – At a town hall Thursday night, Rep. Greg Casar fielded questions about possible cuts to Medicaid, unequal funding in public schools and how Democrats were responding to President Donald Trump.

But this was not his district. The Democrat from Texas was speaking to Rep. Gabe Evans’s constituents – on the Colorado Republican’s home turf.

“So you might ask, what’s a congressman from Texas doing here in Colorado doing town halls? And the answer is this: My title actually isn’t congressman,” Casar, a native of Austin, told a crowded high school auditorium. “It’s representative, and the person that is supposed to be representing you here in Colorado is not acting like a representative. He’s acting like an employee of the Trump-Musk organization.”

Casar was visiting the district as part of a Democratic town hall blitz through Republicans’ backyards. The town halls are being held in swing and deep-red districts alike, and have attracted large crowds. Thursday’s town hall had more than 200 people attending.

Lawmakers are coordinating which districts to target with national and state Democratic groups. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said the town halls are a response to Republicans putting their own meetings with constituents on ice. House Republican leadership encouraged party members to opt for virtual town halls as videos went viral of angry voters shouting down their representatives over the Trump administration’s slashing of the federal government.

“Congressional members have a duty, I would say, a responsibility, to make sure that they’re listening to their constituents and giving them an outlet to be heard,” Martin said in an interview. “If the Republicans are going to refuse to do their own jobs, then we’ll do their job for them. We’ll make sure that people are heard throughout this country.”

Casar highlighted the point Thursday night by sharing the stage with a life-size cardboard cutout of Evans with chicken feet.

Evans’s team rejected the claim that he has been hiding from voters, pointing out that in the three months he has been in office, he’s hosted a large town hall, 171 smaller meetings with constituents personally, more than 500 staff-led constituent meetings and 65 press availabilities.

With Election Day more than a year and a half away, it’s early to be campaigning. And several of the districts that the Democratic members are targeting have no real odds of turning blue. Both Casar and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) held separate town halls in Texas’s 21st Congressional District, represented by hard-line conservative Rep. Chip Roy. Roy won the district by more than 25 percentage points last year.

Still, Democrats contend their presence is highlighting discontent that could add pressure for Republicans to shift their policy positions. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) said his visit to the district of Republican Rep. David G. Valadao (California) in March gave concerned voters a chance to air their fears about cuts to Medicaid under Republicans’ ambitious government spending reductions. About a month later, Valadao sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) urging Medicaid not to be cut.

“We’re seeing it’s working,” Khanna said in an interview. “The purpose here is not to campaign and defeat them. The purpose is to get them to change their mind on Medicaid cuts, on standing up to this president, on tariffs, on standing up on immigration.”

In a statement to The Washington Post, Valadao denied Khanna had anything to do with his letter and said, “I’ve been clear about my support for protecting Medicaid for months – long before any out-of-town Democrats showed up in the Central Valley.”

Republicans derided Democrats for sending some of their most progressive lawmakers to swing districts. Casar was one of the most progressive members of the Austin City Council – already a very liberal body – before running for Congress, where he established himself as a leading progressive voice. Republicans say figures like Casar cannot lead town halls that reflect the interests and concerns of Republican-held districts, nor are they effective in flipping centrist voters. To Republicans, these are rallies, not town halls.

“He represents the total opposite of Congressman Gabe Evans’ commonsense and winning plan of improving public safety, the immigration system, and the economy,” Delanie Bomar, a spokesperson for Evans, said in a statement. “Any day with Greg Casar in Colorado’s 8th District is a day that helps reelect Gabe Evans in 2026.”

Martin replied that he’s seen crowds of hundreds of people turn up in rural, conservative areas.

“The reality is, at the end of the day, folks really don’t care who’s there,” Martin said. “What they want to do is be heard, and they want to express their frustration at what this administration is doing to their communities and to their lives.”

Casar put out a direct call for undecided voters during his Thursday appearance.

“My message here today, saying that Gabe Evans shouldn’t be voting to cut Medicaid to pay for tax cuts for billionaires,” Casar said, “that message isn’t just a progressive message.”

The crowd at Thursday’s town hall had a decidedly liberal bent. Attendees cheered at Casar calling for Elon Musk’s ouster from government. They fiercely booed when Casar mentioned Vice President JD Vance.

When asked whether he had gone to an Evans town hall or constituent meeting in the past, one attendee, Kevin Bolger, said: “Why would I try to contact that man? Why in the world would I want to contact him?”

Amy Becker, a constituent of neighboring Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse, attended the town hall to find new ways to help flip Evans’s seat blue and praised Democrats for sending their members to districts far from their home bases to spread their message – including with unlikely audiences.

“Engaging with the public is just hugely important” Becker said. “Even just going on some right-wing podcasts, I feel like we just need to be everywhere.”

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida), who has crisscrossed the country to take part in town halls, said even if the audiences are majority Democrats, it helps spread the party’s message to new markets where local media often repeat them the next day.

“We’re talking to the people there, but we’re also talking to the people who live in that community, who will learn about the town hall, who will get to read those words: that because their representative refuses to face the people, a Democrat from a different state came to talk to the people,” Frost said.