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The Dangers of Shushing Constituents at Town Halls [1]
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Date: 2025-03-26
Across three days last week, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held five rallies in three states on their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour – an admonishment of the billionaires that have taken over the White House. Tens of thousands of people showed up in places like Tucson and Tempe, Arizona, Greeley and Denver, Colorado, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez’s speeches called out the struggles of the working class and called out the Democratic Party itself for being too weak in its support of the working class. This was in stark contrast to the messaging of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s presidential campaign, which name-dropped the middle class every chance it got.
Of course, this tour was not a presidential campaign (although it could be the run-up to one for Ocasio-Cortez), but its timing – in the aftermath of a lackluster performance by Democrats against Donald Trump who, for the first time in his three presidential runs, won the popular vote – feels strategic. But I’m not convinced the rest of the left will pick up on the strategy Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are putting down.
Right before their three-day tour, I attended a town hall hosted by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Representative Janelle Bynum of Oregon House District 5. I came away from it disappointed.
More than 1,000 people showed up at the gym of a community college in Oregon City, a small city adjacent to Portland whose claim to fame is being the last stop on the Oregon Trail. People from all over the northwest corner of the state showed up, representing both the urban and rural parts of the Willamette Valley, but their concerns were the same: what’s going to happen to Medicaid? Social Security? What about our veterans? Why do I have to take out a third mortgage to send my kid to college? Why is Elon Musk lining Teslas up in the White House driveway?
Despite Wyden and Bynum’s attempts to rally enthusiasm and hope, the attendees’ anger and frustration at Democrats was palpable. Yet, there was no substance to the solutions Wyden and Bynum gave people – all they offered were paltry suggestions to call our representatives and vote blue next election cycle.
As hecklers got more vocal about their dissatisfaction about these answers, Wyden and Bynum’s enthusiasm soured. At one point, a heckler was shushed by the town hall’s moderator, who cried “let her speak,” referring to Bynum, who had already been speaking all night.
The whole event highlighted how stymied the American public is in their attempts to bring concerns to the politicians who purportedly represent them. Town halls are often the only place the average person gets the chance to speak with a politician, so shushing their opinions feels counterintuitive.
While the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour certainly didn’t address this issue (how could you possibly hear all 34,000 of the Denver attendees), it did seem to acknowledge a truth most Democrats appear eager to forget: voting blue no matter who will not solve our problems. The last election cycle proved that most voters are not impressed with that solution, nor should they be.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have initiated a critical look inward at the Democratic Party – now it’s time for the rest of the Democrats to follow suit.
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