Protesters in a tiny Midwestern community went on a chanting rampage for almost an hour at a House Republican town hall on Tuesday night, accusing Republicans of attempting to cut essential government services. The event ended in utter mayhem.
During Congress’s break this week, only Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) had an in-person town hall meeting, and left-wing groups seem to have taken advantage of this to interrupt him.
Minutes after the opening prayer, the event got off to a tense start when the moderator called out President Trump and Flood in the first question to the crowd, accusing them of not supporting the “rule of law.” Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were booed at every turn by the crowd, forcing Flood to constantly ask for silence.
One time, demonstrators yelled out, “Tax the rich.”
Just minutes into Flood’s town hall, Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Fleming Kleeb shared a post on X that showed the crowd size. Officials from the state Democratic Party, she said, “are on site if you need an action handout of things you can do beyond the town hall!”
A “volunteer-organized event” called “Musk or Us: Demand Mike Flood Fight Back!” was promoted by the leftist organizations MoveOn and Indivisible at the same time.
No changes were made to the timing or location of Tuesday night’s town hall meeting by Flood. Throughout the almost 1.5 hours of the event, the congressman was relentlessly grilled with questions and subjected to jeers from the crowd whenever he responded.
One woman spoke out during the open mike and said, “You decided to capitulate your job of monitoring the funding of places that do research for breast cancer.” She went on to mention that Flood’s wife fought breast cancer and that her own sister died of the disease.
She raised her hand and asked, “How are you going to deal with that decision on an individual level?” to which the audience responded with approval.
Although he was unaware of any such delay, Flood stated that he was in favor of financing medical research and that DOGE was evaluating money individually as part of its effort to lower the national debt. However, the audience inside Columbus High School’s auditorium erupted at the mere mention of DOGE or Musk, forcing Flood to repeatedly raise his voice and repeat himself as the demonstrators’ volume increased.
The audience was questioned by an irate Flood, “How can you be against a balanced budget?”
Reddit threads encouraging individuals to go protest Flood were seen by AWN Digital after the fact. On a Nebraska-specific discussion board, someone said, “I highly implore District 1 residents to make the drive and come out to make your voices heard.”
Reacting to a reader who pointed out that the event was supposed to go for an hour, the original poster said, “That’s a whole hour’s worth of booing him and his stupid idea that he’ll get the support of his precious hometown.”
Someone other mentioned the town hall in a different thread, writing, “S— man isn’t even in my district, but I’m considering going up there.”
Given the dramatic increase in both planned and unexpected demonstrations, Flood’s decision to have a town hall in person seems to go against the advice of House Republican leaders, who advised against such in-person gatherings.
Republicans in the House have shifted to tele-town halls, which they claim are more productive and easier to moderate.
A number of them have voiced concerns about the security of their employees, pointing out that crowds at constituent gatherings may get rather rowdy.
Meanwhile, protestors have been encouraged by left-wing groups to stage faux town halls with politicians who were not invited, instead of protesting at GOP town halls. This tactic takes advantage of the change in tactics.
Notable Democrats have taken advantage of the void to host rallies in districts held by Republicans, such as Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the representative for New York.
