DOGE protests cause Republicans to reconsider in-person town halls

If your member of Congress is a Republican, you may not be able to attend an in-person town hall anytime soon.

Elijah Nouvelage/The Washington Post via Getty Images

• Republicans have been facing outcry at town hall meetings from constituents over DOGE cuts.
• Now, some Republicans are signaling that they're doing away with in-person town halls.
• Some Democrats are already capitalizing on the moment, pledging to hold events in red districts.

If your member of Congress is a Republican, you may not be able to attend an in-person town hall anytime soon.

After weeks of protests over DOGE-driven cuts to the federal workforce, freezes on federal funding, and other early actions taken by President Donald Trump's administration, GOP lawmakers are signaling that they're likely to move away from the format.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Tuesday that he believes the protesters are "literally paid" by the liberal megadonor George Soros, and that they're using the town halls to generate "sound bites" to make Republicans look bad.

"They're doing this for the cameras, we all know it, and I think it's not to play into it right now," Johnson said.

The Wall Street Journal's Olivia Beavers reported that Richard Hudson, the chairman of House Republicans' campaign arm, directly urged lawmakers not to hold in-person town halls.

Newsy: NRCC Chair Richard Hudson just very dramatically told members to put down their phones and listen, per source in room.

He said no one should be doing town halls. Likened it to 2017, said the protests at town halls and district offices are going to get even worse. Another…

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) March 4, 2025

Johnson told reporters that Republicans would engage with constituents in other ways.

"There's lots of different ways and forums to do it. You can do it in telephone town halls. You can have small subgroups of people from different industries and segments of the community," Johnson said. "We find that to be very, very productive, and more productive than if you just go to an open forum right now."

Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, who was confronted at a town hall over the weekend, told reporters on Tuesday that he hasn't decided whether he'll continue holding in-person town halls.

"We did a telephone town hall last night," Marshall said. "We can reach thousands of people more at a time."

Meanwhile, Democrats are seizing on the moment, with some pledging to take the fight to Republicans' turf.

Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna wrote in an op-ed for The American Prospect that at the end of March, he would travel to three GOP-held California districts to "speak out against DOGE's mass firings and the Republicans' Medicaid cuts."

And Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota wrote on X that he would host events in districts where Republicans refuse to hold town halls.

"If your Republican representative won't meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will," Walz wrote.

That’s a shame. If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will.

Hell, maybe I will. If your congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em. https://t.co/EtysJK75gK

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) March 4, 2025

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