Police asked the congressman to end the event and send everyone home after several heated exchanges.
The town halls on Wednesday night illustrate growing signs of unease and dissatisfaction from constituents across the country.
GOP Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia faced some tough criticism and occasional boos from constituents last month as he fielded questions about the Trump administration’s early actions.
At one point during his February town hall, McCormick was pointedly asked about the firings of hundreds of workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based in Atlanta: “Why is a supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?”
“I’m in close contact with the CDC. They have about what, 13,000 employees, 13,000 employees at the CDC. In the last couple years, those probationary people, which is about 10% of their employee base, about 1,300 people, which you’re referring to. A lot of the work they do is duplicitous with AI,” McCormick said.
The mention of AI led to “no’s” and murmurs from the crowd, leading the Republican representative to say, “I happen to be a doctor. I know a few things.”
GOP Rep. Cliff Bentz faced a similar reaction from his constituents during a town hall last month in La Grande, Oregon, where he also received questions on DOGE. One constituent asked, “Since DOGE was created without the Congress, who is paying for it,” leading to applause from the crowd.
“The DOGE committee, as I understand it, is being filtered into, if that’s the right word for (it) or put into another agency, but we are looking into that now to find out. I don’t know the answer,” he said before being interrupted by some boos and jeers of disapproval.
Some of the tough criticism and oftentimes angry remarks have led to police action. One man who identified himself as a veteran was escorted out of a town hall in Asheville, North Carolina after he shouted in protest following GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards’ comments about voting for the House budget resolution.
Edwards told CNN following the town hall, “There were so many people that took time to be there, that took time to put questions in the box that they wanted answered. I believe it’s part of the democratic process, even though it might be uncomfortable from time to time. I think town halls are necessary.”
Other members of Congress showed more frustration about the matter. GOP Sen. Roger Marshall left his town hall earlier this month in Oakley, Kansas, after a larger-than-expected crowd pressed him about DOGE cuts including jobs held by veterans.
Fears of angry protesters have deterred some in office from going in front of crowds. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer postponed planned book tour events in several cities citing security concerns, after receiving heavy backlash from within his caucus and the Democratic base over his decision to vote to advance a Republican-led funding bill last week.
Local chapters of Indivisible, a progressive group created in 2016 after Trump first took the White House, had planned protests around events for the book tour.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Taylor Galgano and Martin Goillandeau contributed to this report.
The town halls on Wednesday night illustrate growing signs of unease and dissatisfaction from constituents across the country.
GOP Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia faced some tough criticism and occasional boos from constituents last month as he fielded questions about the Trump administration’s early actions.
At one point during his February town hall, McCormick was pointedly asked about the firings of hundreds of workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is based in Atlanta: “Why is a supposedly conservative party taking such a radical and extremist and sloppy approach to this?”
“I’m in close contact with the CDC. They have about what, 13,000 employees, 13,000 employees at the CDC. In the last couple years, those probationary people, which is about 10% of their employee base, about 1,300 people, which you’re referring to. A lot of the work they do is duplicitous with AI,” McCormick said.
The mention of AI led to “no’s” and murmurs from the crowd, leading the Republican representative to say, “I happen to be a doctor. I know a few things.”
GOP Rep. Cliff Bentz faced a similar reaction from his constituents during a town hall last month in La Grande, Oregon, where he also received questions on DOGE. One constituent asked, “Since DOGE was created without the Congress, who is paying for it,” leading to applause from the crowd.
“The DOGE committee, as I understand it, is being filtered into, if that’s the right word for (it) or put into another agency, but we are looking into that now to find out. I don’t know the answer,” he said before being interrupted by some boos and jeers of disapproval.
Some of the tough criticism and oftentimes angry remarks have led to police action. One man who identified himself as a veter
an was escorted out of a town hall in Asheville, North Carolina after he shouted in protest following GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards’ comments about voting for the House budget resolution.
Edwards told CNN following the town hall, “There were so many people that took time to be there, that took time to put questions in the box that they wanted answered. I believe it’s part of the democratic process, even though it might be uncomfortable from time to time. I think town halls are necessary.”
