As GOP pushes to pause town halls, Florida Dems launch town hall campaign in red districts

While the GOP is telling its lawmakers to stop holding town halls for now, Democrats are looking to fill in the gaps.

The Florida Democratic Party (FDP) is kicking off a five-day town hall blitz across seven Republican-controlled congressional districts, and it’s inviting state Republicans to disobey National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chair Richard Hudson and meet its candidates on stage.

“If Florida Republicans really believe that what they’re doing is what’s best for the country, they should come and explain themselves to the people in their districts — and if they won’t hold town halls, we will,” FDP Chair Nikki Fried said in a statement.

“With mass firings, cuts to the VA, threats to Social Security and Medicare, attacks on immigrants, tariffs and trade wars — people deserve answers.”

The FDP town halls schedule includes:

— Friday, March 14: Gay Valimont at the Pensacola Yacht Club in Florida’s 1st Congressional District, 6-8 p.m. CT.

— Friday, March 14: Josh Weil at the W.E. Harris Community Center in Hastings in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, 7-9 p.m. ET.

— Saturday, March 15: Melbourne town hall at 2300 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in Florida’s 8th Congressional District, 12:30-2:30 p.m. ET.

— Saturday, March 15: Clearwater town hall with Whitney Fox and Fried in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, 5-7 p.m. ET.

— Saturday, March 15: Coral Gables town hall with Miami-Dade County Democratic Party Chair Laura Kelley in Florida’s 27th Congressional District, 5-7 p.m. ET.

— Sunday, March 16: Social Security Works Executive Director Alex Lawson at the Wildwood Community Center in Florida’s 11th Congressional District, 1:15-2:15 p.m. ET.

— Wednesday, March 19: Winter Springs town hall in Florida’s 7th Congressional District, 7-9 p.m. ET.

More information will be provided about the two town halls on Saturday and Wednesday without named speakers, according to FDP Deputy Communications Director Matt Dailey.

“Some of these town halls are happening with community organizations and are being facilitated by local organizers,” he said.

On Tuesday, Hudson told GOP lawmakers to stop holding town halls in person after several events turned sour amid backlash from constituents upset by cuts under President Donald Trump. Some lawmakers have since switched to virtual town halls, where silencing outcry is a mute button away. Trump has suggested, without substantiation, that the discontented town hall attendees are “paid troublemakers.”

The FDP’s events come as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) rolls out a national “People’s Town Halls” schedule, with in-person events scheduled to also take place in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska and Pennsylvania.

“These increasingly vulnerable House Republicans are failing to do the most basic aspect of their jobs: meeting with the people they represent,” said U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, Chair of the DCCC.

“Voters deserve elected officials who will take the time to meet with and listen to them, but instead these House Republicans are hiding from their own voters to avoid having to defend their disastrous record of stripping health care and food access from the families, workers, and seniors in their communities.”

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